Lowell looked from their workstation over to Gondo peacefully slumbering on the casting table behind them. He would be out for a while, and Ignasius still labored away in his workshop.
The Safe House was located deep underground. On paper it was your average space mining consortium, but in reality, it was a state-of-the-art laboratory, bomb shelter and War Room.
Its few access points were guarded by various security, human, robotic or both. These entrances led into expansive underground tunnels that could be flooded with gas, locked down via stasis field, or filled with hot liquid magma (Ignasius addition, of course). There were even certain small chambers along the way that hid massive metal spikes in the floors and ceilings that when activated would cause ultimate destruction on anything unlucky enough to exist inside. There was no security better than a good spike room or two.
Once through the trap littered passageways and a final security door one would arrive upon the main area of the base. Its high domed ceiling contained a skylight that would alternate between night and day and various weather patterns. The walls could change between slate industrial gray to vast windows looking out on Zenlike ancient Earth skylines or even the stormy atmosphere of Jupiter. There were millions of options as this technology was relatively common place and very commercial. Often while the crew was enjoying themselves in the lounge they would travel to the bottom of the sea or to the sets of their favorite programs from the feeds or from popular Dreamscapes.
The dome centered around the laboratory workstations and casting table. Orbiting the room was their meeting table, a small kitchen, a lounge and bar and passage to several private rooms and sleeping chambers.
A large circular door that stood near the meeting table led through 12 feet of noise dampening insulation and then into the expansive and mysterious world of Ignasius's workshop. Humans were forbidden in this area unless strictly monitored due to the dizzying number of mechanical arms constantly zipping through the air, sawing, welding and zapping his various projects into life. Regardless Lowell and Gondo had ventured inside many times, and enjoyed the robot’s show and tell explaining the mementos and keepsakes that decorated his workspace.
Back inside the dome was Lowell’s workstation. In contrast to the rest of the space this was a simple area. An array of monitors and a terminal backed by a large steel wall containing the heart of their computer's mainframe. While the ceilings and floor were packed with the formidable amount of gadgetry necessary for casting, they preferred to have the most crucial elements accessible in case of emergency. Their worn green swivel chair faced them, waiting invitingly.
Lowell sat down, strapped on a cranial patch and began to dive into Gondo’s latest Scry. While they could have relived the entire experience as if they were actually there, they preferred to stick with the simple sensory input. Let Gondo’s thoughts be his own.
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Now that they were receiving such a vast amount of data it was much more complicated to process. Ignasius had already run through the recording and marked all the notable details via his sophisticated artificial intelligence. Now it was Lowell’s turn to examine frame by frame and apply their unique attention to detail.
They put on one some late 20th century hip hop. The art form had evolved in myriad ways through the centuries but for Lowell the work of its originators was still the most powerful.
Lowell proceeded through the revolutionary cast in awe, periodically stopping to jot down notes on the Moonshield’s efficacy. The telescopic vision afforded Gondo was remarkable and traced back to a biological compound derived from an herb they had procured at a black-market greenhouse. They ordered more of the plant and saw it was immediately on its way via the complex robotic shipping framework that permeated the Endless City.
In the next segment Gondo’s astral body retained conscious thought while travelling at hyper light speed as he approached the lava moon. This alone was an astounding breakthrough. He was literally flying through space in ghost-form. Remarkable. The Moonshield was performing perfectly.
The legendary Wu-Tang Clan bounced through Lowell’s mind as if they were in the room, all while they relived Gondo’s travel through the magma wall. It was breathtaking.
As Gondo touched down on the moon’s surface Lowell paused the recording. Something had happened here that would require them to analyze what was going through Gondo’s mind in that moment. This was no invasion of privacy; Casters were all aware that their thoughts were public record. Any of their Casts might be analyzed in excruciating detail.
When Lowell fully entered the cast, they were at first struck by the severity of the Pull. Not as bad as previous scrys but still ever-present and distracting. They continued as Gondo became distracted by his perplexity at his current situation. He broke his focus.
Focus was something people like Gondo spent their entire lives honing. It was the backbone of their abilities, and therefore a true measure of their innate power. A formidable Caster like Gondo would have an extraordinary focus, but still in a situation as grand as this one it was liable to be broken. Thankfully, this was something they could work with, and not a problem with the formula.
After going back over their notes, they began adjusting the next batch of the Moonshield. The herbs they had ordered arrived via a net of proxy delivery addresses and scans and Lowell began to extrude the necessary components in the lab.
At the start the three had agreed to push their experimentation aggressively. They all knew it was only a matter of time before the compound would be released and the relative safety of their current research was lost. Whatever they were able to hone now could save countless lives once that happened. Lowell imagined a generation of Casters floating off into infinity as their specters succumbed to the increased severity of the Pull. A chilling thought.
Just then Gondo began to stir. After a brief period of rest, he would once again cast himself off under the effects of the newly refined Moonshield. This was the work that would define their lives, and their names would be cemented in history for their discoveries. It was their job to make sure this was the beginning of a new realm of space exploration, and not humanity’s doom.