Chapter Two: A Whole Old World

[Akirapryde]

Alice looked down at her ring and let out a long sigh, “It was an opportunity of a life time for me. My parents brought me and my brother to Lyran space to escape the clans. I worked so hard to prove myself to loyal citizen. Something my parents could never achieve, being former clan scientist.” (OOC: Eric knows that there is more to that than meets the eyes. However he is unsure if it has anything to do with the situation at hand). She paused only for a moment.

“I worked my way to a teaching position on Tharkad at a local university. I had finally reached a place of respect when my world fell apart. I lost my job because I refused to pass a student simply because of his parent’s military connections. I remember that day well, it was raining. I walked my way home trying to figure out how I was going to break the news to my father. Professor Angsoft waited for me along a bridge that I had to take on my way home. We talked friendly as if he had known me all my life, but it was the very first day I had ever met him. I don’t know how he found out, but he knew about how I lost my teaching position. He offered me a position as his led researcher and assistant.”

She looked up to Eric, “working for Professor Angsoft is nothing you could explain. The man had this way of just knowing things. Sure his name carried all kinds of weight. I had read a paper he wrote during my understudy, it was called Butterflys. A remarkable paper about same actions having massive effects on the direction of the entire Inner Sphere. He was the leading scientist and critic that would test any and all theories regarding Time Travel. He had a way of picking apart a theory and finding its flaws. He coined the state, Time is not the means of travel, but witness to humanity's greatest achievements. The man was brilliant."

"I remember a few months after we first met, we were getting ready for a major experiment. This experiment was designed to last for an entire year as we were working on the collector. From the beginning very beginning, the goal was to unravel the secrets of the universe. To push Jumpship travel beyond its limits.” She glanced down at her ring then back to Eric, “I swear, this has been the goal of the project from the beginning.”

She didn’t allow anyone a chance to speak, “We had not been two weeks in to that experiment, before Professor Angsoft ordered the entire thing shut down. He gave us some new formulas and an entirely new direction to go. It was like being in the middle of a storm and he knew the only safe way through it. I had never seen him so determined or driven. It won’t be the last time he ordered an experiment to be shut down before we were finished.”

She looked to Adrian and Jake, “no, the project wasn’t what we sold it to the Lyrans. Because of the way Professor Angsoft ran the project, we had nothing to show for the massive amount of funds we were burning through. I can’t explain it, but it seemed like we were getting closer to something. But it was like we were skipping the work only to reach a marker or point. But Even I was at a lost as to what we were driving towards. But you get sucked in to this sense of excitement. It wasn’t long before we all were excited to see if Professor Angsoft would take us in a new direction or if we would continue on more day. But money was always a factor for the project.”

She turned back to Eric, “It was my idea that came up with the whole Task Force X. My father and other scientist within the Clans had spent so much resources trying to find Task Force X. It was a myth, nothing more. But the Lyrans didn’t know this. So we planted just the right information to bait the Admirals of the Lyran Navy. This opened up our project to funding that we never dreamed of. It made building the Arc possible. Professor Angsoft designed the Arc personally and had me conduct quality control for it. I was not allowed to short any part of its construction. I was even able to talk my parents in to helping us gather information. Detailed history of the Clans, time before the fall of the Star League. Anything and everything we could think of.”

“Professor Angsoft’s dream was to send the Arc back across space at sub-light speed. So that survivors of the Dark Ages could see how the cycle of war will destroy our civilization. It was a noble idea. But the Arc was only second to the primary project. The collector would capture the energy of the universe so that we could break it down to its fundamental parts and study it. Think about it, understanding creation its self."

She looked down at the ring and let out a bit of laughter, “on the way out to Phoenix Station, I asked him why he picked me. I seemed so out of place compared to the core scientists of the project. I mean after all, sure there were other assistants, but I was the youngest of the group. He laughed at my question and said time will give me my answer. He gave me the watch off of his wrist and made me promise to never allow my ideals to be compromised.”

She looked up again and back to Eric, “I don’t know what more you want from me.”

(OOC:anyone who made their rolls, you have little doubt that everything she said was true to the best of her ability)