[ChicletPrime]

Voyage of the Outcast: 4

• oh, thank god. Xavier will do it instead. save us, Obi-ier, you're our only hope.
  
• "in theory, a morris-thorne wormhole is a traversable wormhole. spherically symmetrical featuring a 'throat' that bridges two black holes. the 'throat' is a finite spherical region containing negative energy density matter to counteract gravitational forces inside the wormhole"
  
• "for a moment i wonder... was Xavier like this back in college?"  /facepalm!
  
• "time travel becomes possible with this model. for example, the deepspace tunnel above us might very well be a giant wormhole."
  
• okay, they are REALLY just spelling it out here at this point.
  
• "the mysterious deepspace signals could then make their way to our distant earth."
  
• "were you REALLY an astronomy graduate?"  yeah, i think he pretty much had to be, girlfriend.
  
• how many diplomas do you have, Xavier, if you can't remember??
  
• oooh, Dr Ulysses knows who Xavier is! and me too, i guess, at least as another Hunter.
  
• Xavier: "he's an old friend of mine.."  hello, one of Methuselah's Children! pleased to make your acquaintance.
  
• even Prof Ulysses knows that Xavier doesn't show up for just any old mission.  "Should I be expecting a... major incidence to take place?"  rephrased: what's about to go down or blow up, Xav? i just got my senior professorship here and i wasn't intending on moving for a couple of decades. i'm gonna be pissed if i have to pack up all my books again.
  
• muahahah!  (looks like I'm not the only one who has a certain impression about Xavier). excellent. i love it when i am right on the vibe.
  
• oh interesting. the lab's flux stabilizer didn't have any reaction to the Wanderer that showed up and grabbed the student, who was apparently close enough by that the prof heard them scream.
  
• ah. apparently that means "stealth wanderer" on the prowl. one who can make a small enough (?) field that it doesn't trigger a stabilizer.
  
• oh, there's another piece of tech that might record a field like that. off we go!
  

Voyage of the Outcast: 5

• so the fancy gadget is really meant to be analyzing the smallest variations in the Tunnel.
  
• per Xav, all the data related to the Wanderer is corrupted. nani? how did you get access to that? we only just got here!
  
• our girlfriend just skips right over the unimportant questions like "how did you know how to use that thing?" and "how did you even have access to get to use it", to cling to important stuff, like, corrupted?
  
• sabotage!
  
• we grab him by his tie... okay, in my mind's eye, we grab him by his tie and shake him down for the unimportant questions. will he answer with anything other than a deflection? stayed tuned to the next four seconds!
  
• my god, Xavier, i'll interrogate you anywhere i feel like!
  
• fine, lets go of the tie
  
• so there was a tour of the facilities for all the new students a bit ago, which means somebody technically unauthorized was in this room recently. and only new students were kidnapped. so...
  
• c'mon brain, put it together before you advance the quest. what does that mean?
  
• somebody wants to get the best marks in the freshman classes to get the best scholarship monies so they've decided to take out the competition around them using untraceable Wanderers?
  
• oh, so the tour thing was attended only by select students... who happen to be the ones that eventually took a walk on the wild and fluctuating side.
  
• oh no, they're after the student council vice president! he of the decent VA for once!
  
• oh no, maybe it IS the student council vice president, he of the decent VA for once!
  
• oooooo.  framed, yellowed picture on the wall in the lab catches my attention on the way out to find el vice presidente.
  
• Xavier, Xavier, Xavier. looking good as always - in a photograph probably taken when you should have been in your nappies. let me guess. the people in the photo didn't work on and build this fancy detector - they just ripped it out of Traceback II and huffed it into the building.
  

Voyage of the Outcast: 6

• c'mon girl, we gotta confront him on this. i know he's the nicest neighbour we ever had even if he does drop onto our balcony sometimes chasing the stuff that blew off his balcony, but we can't let this slide.
  
• yup, we're going with 'coward' for the moment.
  
• if the Wanderer can just wander around as it pleases, then we are definitely being set up for a trap.
  
• i love doublespeak in stories. Xavier: "After all, people don't write their secrets on their faces. The calmer the water's surface, the easier it is to hide dangerous undercurrents."
  
• c'mon girlfriend, call him out on it!
  
• grab him by his tie again! i know i just vividly imagined and inserted that earlier, but now would be a good time to get your serious point across by near-strangulation.
  
• (is that why Sylus does it?)
  
• uh oh. crystal-heart-attack? or is Xavier just putting out extra fireflies in agitation? i LOVE that he's always got extra sparkle going on even when nothing is going on.
  
• oh, just having montage. phew. should have given us an actual montage, damn it.
  
• we fail to ask the direct question again, and fall back to subterfuge about whether he was a good student or not. and he says he was, always facing forward which is how he kept making eye contact with someone who kept turning around in their chair.
  
• okay. fine. that's adorable.
  
• "but the parts of me you think you know and the parts you think you don't know.. they make up who i am -- all of me, right here in front of you."
  
• /le swoon
  
• (just a boy standing in front of a girl, asking her if she remembers loving him)
  
• oh, he's So Close. if i lean forward just that little bit, mebbe breathe on each other a little? mebbe... kiss?
  
• /i am always so hopeful and so far, only been kissed for actual breath
  
• /one day, my loving kiss will come to town and boy howdy, we'll all hear about it
  
• oops, back to the mission.  the interviewed student, who should be home recuperating, is walking by instead.