April 4 // The Master, OPEN

[lord_and]

Date: April 4
Characters: The Master, open to any others
Location: It's complicated. Infirmary/Medical Lab, though, given the situation, a separate comment thread for the Control Room, involving people other than the Master, seems reasonable.
Summary: Time-space shenanigans! The Master waits for the rift to open.
Warnings: None at the moment.

Comments

Infirmary/Med Lab

[lord_and]

One thing the Master hadn't predicted, however, was blacking out the entire colony. That made his little experiment quite a lot more obvious than he would've liked. Now he'd have to expect a larger number of people coming to nose around.

As he pondered on whether to change his plans for whoever came to investigate, he slid from the bed and quickly made his way into the lab. He could sense that the rift was open, but he wanted to ensure that the device wouldn't continue to overload the system once power was restored. After a quick look around, and a peek inside the fridge where he'd recently stashed the original TARDIS lever, he was satisfied and returned to the infirmary, hoping to find a casual place to wait before anyone else arrived.

[boy_wondering]

Robin led the way into the infirmary, using it as a shortcut on his way to the med lab (good thing he's so predictable). He made a beeline towards the door of the examination room, then paused mid-stride, turning towards the dark figure in the room and flicking his flashlight up. "...Cyril?"

[jamesmayrpg1]

James followed closely. He didn't want to lose Robin in the near darkness. He nearly ran over Robin when he stopped and looked at Cyril.

[lord_and]

He squinted into the beam of the flashlight, then put a hand up to block it and grinned. "Robin! And," he paused, trying to make out the silhouette behind him. "James May?" he guessed. It wasn't a risky guess--there weren't that many people to choose from. "Did either of you bring a voltmeter?"

[aphelion_mod]

The lights flicker back on as power is restored to nonessential systems.

[boy_wondering]

Robin raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth to answer, then blinking and shielding his eyes as the lights flickered back on. He switched off his flashlight and tucked it back into his utility belt, frowning slightly at the Master. "I've got one in my room. It's, uh, sort of approximate... I made it myself. ...What are you doing in here?"

[carter_on_ice]

Sam had been working in her room, on her laptop, when the lights went out. Moving coolly into action, using the light of the monitor of her now battery-powered computer, she slipped into her tactical-vest, slung the strap of her P90 over her shoulder letting it hang ready to hand, grabbed her headlamp turning it on, and picked up her Zat.
Once equipped, long years of practice making the whole procedure take less than a minute, she moved confidently into the hallway moving towards command. As she moved down the corridor past the infirmary she saw the lights of flashlights, and heard voices, then the power came back up. Entering the infirmary and deciding that there were no hostile aliens in it, she lowered her Zat and asked, "so any idea what caused the blackout?"

[jamesmayrpg1]

James eyed the man suspisciously. "What do you need a voltmeter?" James knew from the beginning he had an odd, off feeling about the man. "What have you done?"

He looked back to see Sam, in tactical uniform for the emergency.

"Yes, waht did casue the blackout?"

[lord_and]

The Master blinked as the lights came back on, but he kept his hands up where they'd been until Sam lowered her weapon. He looked between each of the three of them in turn as they all asked their questions.

"Right, let's see," he said, inserting a theatrical pause before answering each of their questions in rapid succession. "Reading, yes, to measure volts, you'll see, and, again, you'll see." He was clearly at ease, at least compared to everyone else, though since there was now a weapon involved, he soon added, more seriously, "Regrettably, yes, the blackout was caused by something I was working on. But there's no further danger." He cast a quick, pointed glance over at the examination room, then looked back at the others and put his hands in his pockets.

"And nevermind the voltmeter, we won't need it now that the power's come back on," he added, then waited, expecting another barrage of questions.

[boy_wondering]

Robin grimaced, putting a hand to his forehead and rubbing at his temple with two gloved fingers. "You couldn't have warned us?" He sighed. "...All right, go on Cyril. Show and tell."

[jamesmayrpg1]

James looked anxiously. The man was doing something that upset the nature of their living situaton. He nudged Robin, "Should he be experimenting like that? Pulling power like that?"

[carter_on_ice]

"Really, Cyril, so what is this project you are working on, and should we expect another blackout anytime soon?" Sam asked as she stood casually waiting for an explanation. "And I have a good voltmeter in my field electronics kit, in my room; if you decide you still need one."

[lord_and]

He gave James a wry look. "It's not an 'experiment'," he said as he turned and led them into the medical lab. Notably, he avoided commenting on James' deferment of authority to someone roughly a third of his age. "I simply miscalculated the power reserves of the station. It won't happen again. You'll see in a moment why I don't want everyone in the colony poking around."

Once inside the med lab, things looked largely normal. A trained ear would probably notice the motor of the refrigerator running at a slightly different pitch, but the only thing notably out of sorts was the smell--sweet and a little unnatural, it smelled the way artificial violet colouring tastes, but, like a violet, the smell is only noticeable for a moment, then it's gone.

Damn right he should be deferring authority to Robin XD

[boy_wondering]

Robin glanced at James when he nudged him. "I'm sure Cyril will have a perfectly good explanation," he said, somewhat pointedly. He turned the lights off behind them as they headed into the med lab. As he entered the room he wrinkled his nose, catching a strange, brief scent. He glanced around the room... everything seemed normal. "...Okay Cyril, what are we looking at?"

((In the interest of moving this along to the interesting part...))

[lord_and]

The Master made his way over to the refrigerator. "This," he said with a flourish, then reached his arms around the fridge and pulled. With a little effort (which, when one's arms are around a refrigerator, is never terribly dignified), he pulled it away from the wall and rotated it so the others would be the first to stare into the vortex. He peered around the side eagerly, watching to see if any of them might go mad. The vortex was positioned, as Carter had guessed when she'd seen it, inside the ring of the "grommet", squarely in the middle of the back panel of the refrigerator. It was in blue-shift, looking backwards through the whole of time, swirling with energy.

Yeah, um, I think if we want the others to be involved we might have to poke at them...

[boy_wondering]

Robin followed the Master over to the fridge, raising an eyebrow as he wrestled the appliance around, revealing...

"Wha-" Robin started to say, then forgot about speaking. He took an unconscious step forward, no longer aware of the room or the others standing in it, barely even aware of himself. There was only the vortex; he stared into it, fascinated by its hypnotic pull. His mind reeled. It was completely incomprehensible and wholly absorbing.