>>Dartha may have a point. Influence could work better after something like this.<<

Something about the torture makes Hodder feel uneasy. Yes, the elf was trying to kill them. But now.... helpless before them all... this seems, excessive. He wonders what would cause a young woman to want to give pain like this. It's not natural.

"Places you are going, Simon, dangerous they are. To your body, perhaps... but more to your soul. Many who walked this road, fallen have they."

Dartha feels the spell drop whether she did so on her own accord or not. Jane steps in between Dartha and the sniper.

"Back off Dartha," Jane does not look pleased, "I think you made your point."

The man on the ground begins to breath heavily and cower. The pain he was experiencing was not real, but nonetheless the effects were done. Everyone notices that the man is open for interrogation. He does not have the willpower or desire to resist.

Dartha inclines her head towards Jane and steps back out of her way. "As you wish."

"She's got to be Awakened!" Dartha thinks to herself in surprise while keeping a completely straight and impassive face. "And very capable at that. Useful to know. I feel a lot better about taking orders from her now, though."

Vera looks at the man and at Dartha at her enjoyment. "Dartha, stop it. Just stop it."

She ignores whatever sounds may be coming from Dartha and looks at the sniper.

"Are you okay?"

She eyes the rest of the group like badly behaving children. There was no weakness there, but a very assured expression behind her eyes. She took a cup of water from the galley and helped him drink a bit of it.

"Now," she said firmly, "tell us why were you shooting at us. No lies, just the truth." She let her eye move to Dartha. "And I think you should answer quickly for both our sakes."

[I rolled negotiation of 27 dice with 12 hits. Sorry but invisible castle is down.]

"Interesting. I didn't counter the spell. Dartha would keep it going for quite a while, I bet. And Jane's comment seemed to be in synch with the spell coming down. Yet at the first meeting, she seemed mundane to me. I wonder."

Hodder opens his senses to the astral and looks at Jane closely, again.

[Spoiler for Belloq]


The man looks up Vera. Still silent, but shaking tremendously. He nods to your response, acknowledging that he heard Vera's question. He leans against the plane, and then looks up before speaking..

"I was hired yesterday by an elf. SHE told me that there would be a plane matching this plane's description, landing on the Tarmac around the time you arrived. I was to try and kill her..."

He lifts a finger up, pointing it at Jane.

"But I couldn't resist shooting the trog. And then I saw the sniper rifle pointed at me, so I decided to attack her first."

Hodder can't resist. "Lucky for your target that your unprofessionalism allowed your prejudice to win out."

Vera held him by the face, looking the sniper in the eyes. "Who was the elf woman who hired you? What did she look like, was there anything distinctive about her? Were you the only one who was hired?"

The sniper looks at Hodder as if he wanted to spit at the dwarf, before Vera grabs his face.

"She had red-hair. Curly red-hair. That's a rarity amongst your kind, isn't it?" He shakes his head. "No. I don't think anyone else was hired."

Back on the plane, and back in the air. We're barely up for a few minutes that our new guest starts to fucking get it. And he gets it bad. The way she behaves, if Dartha was a guy, she'd have a raging hard on right about now. At least, thats what I get from the look on her face. Its not so much what she's doing that bothers me. Far from that. It's the pleasure she seems to be getting from it, and the fact she didn't even consider anything else.I grab the seat closest to the door.

Nevertheless, I don't feel like getting involved all that much. The guy's an ennemy combatant, and we got to treat him as such. Doesn't mean we've got to torture him tho. I rest my rifle agaisnt my seat, and I start swapping bullets in my revolver. I ain't likin the idea of having to shoot anyone inside the plane, but if I got to pull the trigger, I'd rather not decompress the entire thing.

For second, I almost get up to intervene. The treatment this guy is getting is harsh as hell. If we fuck him up too much, there's no telling what he'll start making up. Vera beats me to it, and gets a bit in Dartha's face. When things finally cool down, the Deputy goes back in its holster. There ain't much I can do at this point to help out, so I go round back where the luggage is, with the firm intent to gear up. Fuck comfort. I won't feel at ease until I'm well inside a tac vest with 600 rounds of ammo.

Vera continued to look the man in the eyes. Making sure he could not see the rest, "I want you to describe her, down to the last detail. Every movement and pose, anything you can think of."

"What do you call yourself? My name is Vera."

"Bunker."

He continues..

"The woman is Mediterranean with fiery red hair. I'd say around 5'8. She was dressed very sharply, black business suit and skirt over a white blouse. She was wearing shades. We met at a coffee shop. She came alone. The pay was okay, she knew I needed the money so I took the job. That's all I remember. Said she would contact me in by the end of the week if the job was done correctly. Half up front, half upon completion."

Jane takes her eyes off of Dartha for a brief moment to listen. Shaking her head.

"The description means nothing to me. I'll go through my footage of Lockwood to see if anything with her description is associated with him."

Digits broadcasts his image over the cabin's monitor.

"Asante. Estimated Time of Arrival is 20 minutes. Get ready to strap yourselves in."

Vera helps Bunker into a seat and straps him down. She moves to an adjacent seat, well outside of his grasp if he should try something stupid during the landing.

Hodder sits in one of the seats at the front of the cabin that face backwards. He straps himself in, watches the cabin as a whole, still open to the astral, and waits for landing.

Dartha seats herself and buckles in, turning the chair to face the captive, but she remains passive and simply watchful as she was instructed.

Everyone seems very distraught by what Dartha did. Me, I didn't move. It seemed as if I wouldn't get to take a second shot. I don't really feel anything as the man is tortured, it seems... somehow unreal. Maybe it is the thought that he is 'lucky to be alive' in the first place, maybe it is because he tried to kill me, but maybe it is something entirely different, something from my past. I catch small glimpses into my own personality from time to time, like how I dislike missing so much, but there is still so much hidden.

At Digit's warning that the plane is about to land, I pull out my backpack, disassemble my rifle, and stow it orderly in the bag. I could have done the whole thing in a few seconds, but I take my time, and make sure the pieces are put away properly so they'll be easy to reassemble when I need them. I figure I'll likely put them back together once we've landed, I just don't want the gun to go flying if we get jarred on the landing.

"So what are we going to do with him when we land?" I ask. I'm not apprehensive about what will happen, just curious. I'd like to hang onto his gun. It might be a bit easier to carry around than my own if I need to travel light.

Jack sits silently in his chair using AR to type out commands in his programming suite, but his attention is elsewhere. The ruse is to remain looking like he isnt observing everyone, but he gleans from the time spent in observation that they are professional, but not cohesive.

...not an established team, an assembled one.

Hodder catches Jack's attention once again. "So, Jack, how about those Seattle Mariners?"

Jack stops his phantom typing "Phhhhffftttt! The Mariners? I prefer the Cardinals anyday, yeah a few bad seasons is no reason to jump ship, eh?"

Monday, April 9th, 2072, 0815. Accra, Asante nation, Nigeria.



Jane makes her way over Texas Jack and Hodder before strapping herself in for the landing. She pats the two runners before smiling.

"Let's go Yankees."

[Spoiler for Belloq.]



Jane looks back over at the sniper. And addresses Hawkeye.

"I am not entirely sure at this point. Hodder or Dartha, do you have any way to wipe this man of his memories? Otherwise we'll bring Bunker with us to Lagos, then we'll figure out something to do with him. Dexter, would you mind helping Vera keep an eye on him?"

The flight touches down upon a well-maintained runway, and taxis to a simple by well-maintained single story airport. When you get off the plane, your luggage is waiting for you. Digits and a few members of the ground crew, place your items on the ground. Jane walks into the airport terminal.

Looking around, you see that Accra is a metroplex, but at a smaller scale. There is no smog, factories, etc. There are a few high rises in the distance, surrounded by poor residential houses. The tallest structure belongs to Aztechnology. It seems the corporations influence is everywhere.

When you enter the terminal. It looks like it is an isolated terminal gate area away from the rest of the airport. There are only seven gates in this section. You can see from end to end. There are a few metahumans waiting for their flights, but not that many. There is a small stuffer shack shop in the center.

Janes goes up to the airport security, under the protective eyes of four heavily armed border guards, fusses over her travel documents and licenses. The guards point her down the terminal. At the end of the terminal, there is a sign that says "Lagos" over it. She makes her way over to the gate. There is an armored guard standing there. Jane begins to speak with him.

"Going to Lagos?" He says in English.
Jane nods.
"There's a travel tax for each of you."

Janes sighs and turns to all of you. "I'll take care of this," she tells you. "Go Ahead if you can see our pilot. Goes by the name of Innocent Dobiri. He's supposed to be waiting for us. Tell him Black Mamba vouched for us."

Dartha makes a point of carefully scanning her surroundings before leaving the plane. She is concerned that Jane doesn't seem to have learned a single lesson from the airport in Cairo.

[When and if you guys decide to listen to Jane, and go through the gate to Lagos. Here is what you see.]


You walk into the open fresh air.

The waiting area opens out into a private runway. One the runway is a small airplane. At least you THINK it's an airplane. You saw something like it once on a historical trid. It has dual propellers and a rusted airframe, and looks like it should have been scrapped before in 2040. A rail-thin African man is leaning against it, smoking. When the team approaches, he carefully looks at all of you ---- and the luggage and equipment you guys have. You see a few flakes of rust drift to the ground when he pushes away from the plane to speak to you.

"I hope you don't think you'll be fitting all of those items onto my plane. I have medical supplies to deliver to Lagos, and we're not going to be able to carry everything. Everyone has room for one carry on-item. And that's it."

Dartha looks at the aircraft and uses all her talents and power to resist gaping in disbelief.

She thinks to herself incredulously, "You came in THAT thing?! You're braver than I thought!"

Innocent Dobiris grins. As if he was reading Dartha's mind.

"Don't worry. I'm the best pilot in Lagos. The rust on the plane is just camouflage, and she's got character. There are no other flights to Lagos. I'm it."

You look around, and see no other planes in this area. It looks like he is right.


"Now about your luggage...."

Jane seems to be determined to play decoy by getting out of the plane first, seemingly without even glancing to make sure no one is pointing a gun at her. Seems she plans on making us earn the payment to keep her safe. I exit the plane following Dartha, the detached scope of Bunker's rifle getting used to give the surrounding area a quick scan, attention paid to potential sniper nests.

Seeing nothing, I continue on behind Dartha. I have Bunker's rifle on my back, and the extra weight is making walking a bit harder than it should be, especially as I have to pull along my baggage as well. Jane seems secure enough here, telling us to go on ahead. It would be a real pain getting transport back to Seattle if she were to get killed, but still, I leave her be and go on ahead to the plane.

The plane looks like it'd be lucky to survive taxiing off, much less a flight anywhere. Still, I don't look much like I could handle my barrett, but I manage well enough.

Someone could have told us about this before we left Seattle. I think to myself, giving a sigh at the man's instance that we only get to bring a single bag. Well, I suppose Pope will finally get his wish to see what exactly my equipment is. I drop my backpack on the ground next to my larger suitcase, opening both. "Medical supplies?" I look at him disbelieving. Lagos is a port city, why would they be getting medical supplies from a defunct plane like this?

"Mr. Dobiri, I presume," Hodder holds out a hand to shake that of the pilot. "I understand you come highly recommended by Black Mamba. We were to ensure that you understood we came with Black Mamba's reference."

Hodder scans the plane with his mechanic eye, and figures he could pack a few extra things in it. "You know, Mr. Dobiri, if it's a matter of building enough flight speed to carry the extra weight, I can do something about that." Hodder turns off the sunglass shading of his goggles, as if to get a clearer look at the plane. The preternatural colouration of his eyes immediately strikes Mr. Dobiri, who moves back a step. Hodder continues, "You would be amazed at how fast this plane could fly, with the appropriate help."

Dartha decides to just leave behind the suit she had worn onto the plane and a couple extra outfits in the same bag. Not needing guns and being able to re-tailor her outfits with a thought means she can afford to travel exceedingly light. In fact, now that she's changed, she's wearing nearly all her gear, either in pockets or pouches on her belt. She notices some of her erstwhile teammates going through and consolidating their equipment, and strols over to the aircraft, cheerfully disdainful of the plight of the mundanes.

The thing looks like one of the planes that particpated in the Berlin Airlift, the Dakota, right? As she steps on the first stair, the hinge squeals in protest and Dartha makes a point to keep going with confidence despite wanting to cringe.

"Well, I supposed if worse comes to worst, I can just put my foot through the side of the fuselage and Levitate my way down" she thinks as she runs a finger over the thin un-insulated aluminum skin of the aircraft. She thinks back to Hodder's comment to the pilot and smirks where nobody can see it, "Would it help if I got out and pushed?"

Her smirk is hidden from Hodder, but the humour in Dartha's mind lights up the astral. It doesn't take much for Hodder to figure out what she is thinking. "Well, how about if you Levitate the front, and I Levitate the back?"

Deciding that since nobody else is aboard yet, getting in a little better with her other Awakened teammate is high on her to-do list anyway, so she lets out a most un-lady-like snort.

"I'd guess this heap weighs in at least 8,000 Kilos empty. I don't know about YOU, Master Yoda, but to ME, size DOES matter. So, are you as much more powerful than you pretend as our employer is?"

Vera helped Bunker out of his seatbelt and into the terminal. She continued to help him into the bathroom holding the door open for him. He twitched a bit as with the force of the injection in his neck. By the time the door sung shut he had lost most of his motor control. He jerked a bit on the tiles blood flecked foam coming out of his mouth.

Vera waited by his side until the jerking became trembling and then muscle spasms and then he went limp. She felt a twinge of regret, but it had to be done. It's easy to torture someone, to shoot someone in the heat of the battle, it's hard looking in the eye as they ask with their dying breath 'why?'.

She placed him in a stall and left him there. She returned the airplane with her things and walked over to the gate and through to the aging plane.

She smiled at Dobiri and said "E kú isé." Switching over to English, "My bag is two. One for me, one for medicine. I am a doctor, what medicine do you carry?"

She turned to Dartha, smoking a cheroot. "Let's not try to fix something that is not already broken. Preferably not when I am in it."

Dartha looks pointedly around then straight at Vera.

"And where is our... guest? And speaking of 'fixing' you might want to reconsider smoking near a fueled aircraft."

Vera thinks for a second, "Dexter took him to the bathroom."

She continued to smoke. "Aviation fuel does not ignite with a spark until it is placed under pressure, like in an engine cylinder. Even a child with a Matrix subscription knows that."

Hodder smiles at Dartha, and replies, "Not quite."

Hodder sees that Dobiri is apparently not going to budge, and thinks about how to repack what he has. All that planning to have room to bring things back, 'that might happen to fall into my possession', was for naught. He fits all the important materials he had in the small pack into the tool kit boxes, which he crams into one of the large bags, along with the empty small pack. The armor he brought with him will all fit on him, but he will need someplace to change. Some clothing will have to remain behind. "Just like the old rule of thumb: half the clothes and twice the money."

Hodder looks for a place to change discreetly. Mooning Cairo was bad enough. On the plane seems closest. He climbs aboard just as Vera approaches the plane, puts his armor on and packs the extra clothing into the second bag. he leaves his gear on top of the pile of material in the plane, and carries the leave-behind off the plane.

"I know this is optimistic, but is there a locker here I can trust with this till we return?" Inside he cringes at the naivete of the question. Hopefully it will get a laugh.

"Oh, you're kidding me, right? This stupid whore thinks this flying rattletrap runs on diesel fuel? Those engines are antiques, which means they run on old-style super-high-octane aviation gasoline."

She pauses and thinks to herself, "Come to think of it, why the drek AM I here, anyway? Jane clearly has her own magical defense sown up, and the mundanes have enough guns to outfit a small rebel insurgency. She slaps me down for trying to do things my OWN way. And she tells me to play second fiddle to this stupid bitch. I don't get it.

Monday, April 9th, 2072, 0830. Accra, Asante nation, Nigeria.

"I agree with Dartha." Jane says calmly walking onto the tarmac. "Innocent Dobiri maintains a rustic aircraft. Who knows what types of modifications, rubber bands, pieces of soy gum, or magical spit he has used to keep that thing together. Please put out the cigarette. Hello Innocent, it appears you've met the team."

The Nigerian man smiles and then looks at Hodder, Vera, Hawkeye, Dartha.

"Hmmm. I've never thought about using magic to aid in the flight of Dorthy. I have a few friends who practice in Vodoo, so I would be open to trying your magic, if you explain to me what you are attempting to do. And yes, I have a place you can store your items if you would like. For a fee of course. Say, 100 nuyen a day?" He says grinning. You can see black stained teeth.

"For the items. If the magic man's idea works, then it might be possible to carry more then a carry on. Space will be tighter. But I insist that no one brings ANY type of explosives on board. This plane is carrying slap patches, blister packs, derm needles, lubricants, and other items that I have no idea what they are."

"What are you exactly thinking of Hodder?" Jane asks, noticing the fatigue he has on his body after being very active with his magic thus far.

Hodder looks over the plane a moment before answering. "There are at least two ways my elohim can help this plane fly. The first requires an elohim to possess the plane itself, which of course is always tricky with technological items. When possessed, the plane will be strengthened by the Force of the elohim. Its physical structure will be stronger, so it can take stresses better. Secondly, an elohim in this space anywhere, say the one that walks with me now, could use its magic to speed the plane. So, if the plane were to be struggling with the weight, and accellerating too slowly, the power of the elohim would speed it to the point where it could take off.

"So, Mr. Dobiri, if you feel your plane is in need of strengthening, I can try to get an elohim to possess it. I suspect I will need a stronger one to possess a technological item such as the plane. The process of summoning an elohim carries some risk for me," Hodder smiles at that, "so I would like us to be sure this is necessary. Simply speeding the plane carries no immediate risk for me, aside from the possibility of the aircraft not being able to handle the stress of speed and weight together. I rely on your expertise to assess the likelihood of that."

Hodder waits for discussion or requests. He glances again at the rust on the plane.

Monday, April 9th, 2072, 0832. Accra, Asante nation, Nigeria.



Without thinking Dibiri responds to Hodder.

"I am afraid I am not comfortable with something possessing my plane. However, I am willing to have a spirit speed up the plane using their magical powers. Physically Dorthy's strong, and she'll stand stronger over most Ares Dragon Helicopters. Acceleration and speed was indeed my concern. I have a deadline to meet, and with the extra weight, I was afraid we might not be able to make it to Lagos in time."

[From here, it takes about 2.5 hours to get to Lagos flying Innocent's plane. With the extra weight it would have taken his clunk of junk longer. ]

I close my suitcase again, not yet having moved anything in it, having wanted to make sure that it was really necessary. Thankfully it doesn't seem that it will be. I shrug at 'Innocent's' mention of not bringing any explosives. I don't have any anyway, so no worries there. I glance over at Pope though, something tells me he has some kind of explosives squirreled away in his gear. It then strikes me that I don't remember him ever sharing what gear he had after pressing me for the same information at our first meet.

I don't think it is as important to know exactly what he has as he seems to, but knowing a bit better what he can do would be helpful... Then again, I don't know much of what anyone can really do just yet. I have some ideas... Vera is still the biggest mystery.

Dragging my suitcase along I make my way to the plane. And begin trying to get it up the steps. It isn't easy. I don't have a ton of stuff in there, but I'm not exactly very strong.

Monday, April 9th, 2072, 0832. Accra, Asante nation, Nigeria.

Hodder nods, and inwardly sighs in relief. "I don't need more Drain right now, thank you very much. The services my Task elohim owes me will expire at sunset anyway."

"In terms of alliance and friendship do I think, Simon, not in terms of debt. Good would it be if in such terms would you think, too."

"Alright then! The baggage we bring along is no longer a problem. Let's get boarded." Hodder swoops up behind Hawkeye and effortlessly picks up the bag with which she is struggling. "Last leg on the way to adventure! Come on, kid!"

"O elohim, when I give you the signal, I wish you to enhance the movement of the aircraft so that it may fly with less effort."

"Certainly, Simon, I wait ready to provide service. Advice is available too, should you so desire." Hodder ignores the spirit. He has heard this many times before.

Vera takes a final drag on the cigarette and politely blows her smoke into Dartha's face. She pinches out the ember on to the tarmac, which she steps on, the rest of the cheroot she field strips, wiping her hands of the detritus, she approaches Jane.

"Jane can I have a chat with you?" She moves Jane off to a side were they cannot be easily heard. She quietly said, "Bunker is dead. He complained that he needed to go to the bathroom and took cyanide. He's still in the stall. I think we should go soon."

She looked at Jane for a moment. Little lie, big lie. Tell the truth, but make sure it was unproblematic. Jane was a moral person and possibly a little lonely. She would not like to think about the steps that were important for her survival. Jane may want to be friends with the team Vera thought, but she was also paying the bills.

Jack isnt happy about this, but he begins to field strip his kit, taking what he thinks is most important. His 'link of course, his weapons and combat vest (already loaded up). Of the miscellanious gear he drops into his backpack from his hardcover boxes is the satlink, his jungle pattern combat suit, the battery chargers from both his survival kits and his bags of snuff.

"I'd have liked to know I was going in skinny before now. Guess it's a suprise to us all."

"Hey Jack! Get with the program!" Hodder shouts out from the plane. "I can help this thing fly fast enough, so the pilot is OK with all our gear. Hop on board and let's get out of here."

Jack stuffs the rest of his stripped down gear into the bag and hurries off to the plane. "Not doubting your abilities, but it only takes a sneeze and those damn spirits are free......and in my experience, torqued off. I'm making enough on this venture to cover minor losses." He says as he swings open the door. "Again, not doubting your skill, but a potentially pissed off spirit holding us up at a few hundred meters in air ain't my idea of a nice flight."

Dartha pointedly ignores the smoke and goes about her business, but once Vera's attention is elsewhere, her attention focuses on the back of the other woman's head.

"I don't know who the stupid slitch thinks she is, but when we're done here on this run, she's going to regret being born almost as much as she's going to regret crossing me in the first place."

Seeing as how her own limited kit is already stowed or being worn, Dartha leaves the mundanes to finish loading their gear and finds a seat onboard the aircraft. She lets the anger and hate simmer lightly, drawing strength and focus from them. Soon enough the stupid slitch will beg her for death, and she'll give it to her after breaking her completely. For the moment, however, they are about to take a dangerous flight into an even more dangerous feral city called Lagos; A city where the strong feed on the weak, and even the strong are brought low without warning, remorse or pitty as opportunity, fate and chance work against them. She would have to be cautious and prepared to ensure she'd have the opportunity to pay the whore back in kind with interest for each perfectly remembered slight. Besides, if Lagos lives up to it's reputation, she'll have plenty of opportunity to vent her hate on some other legitimate targets in the mean time.

She gives a friendly and genuine but subtle smile to Hodder as he boards the aircraft for takeoff and a nod to her employer when Jane follows.

I give Hodder a small smile as he lifts my case effortlessly and brings it up the stairs for me, leaving me to pant for a few moments to catch her breath before climbing the stairs myself. As soon as I can find a place to sit, I do so, somewhat hard, and slide the pack from my back to rest on the floor in front of me. "Thanks." I tell him, not saying any more for the moment. Instead I open my bag and do a quick check to make sure everything is still properly ordered. This thing really makes me wish I had a parachute. I glance around, wondering if there is one in the plane anywhere, but not being particularly hopeful.

After I've recovered a bit more, I look at Dartha, after the display in the other plane, I'm surprised that she didn't respond to Vera blowing smoke in her face like that. Or is that not as bad as it seemed? I know I'm a bit out of touch with what is proper and what isn't, but that seemed to fall under the not proper. Still, something in the back of my mind was niggling me about the whole exchange. Something to do with the cigarette in particular, but I'm not sure what.

Vera sat next to Hawkeye. "Sorry, despite the trip I never did catch your name. What is it? My name is Vera I you didn't know."

She turned and addressed the rest of the group, "I have a 'few' contacts here and there around the world. I am also a doctor by profession. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what is your speciality?" The last question was directed more to Hawkeye, but also addressed the rest of the group.

Hodder crams himself into some space beside Jack. Innocent wasn't joking about cramped quarters on the flight. "I can understand your worry. Angry elohim are terrible to behold. Currently they and I are on good terms. The secret is knowing what is a reasonable request. Speeding an aircraft is well within reason.

Hodder glances at Vera. "How about you? With what do you commune, as I do with ... spirits?"

Then he looks around the small cabin. No sniper. He looks again at Vera, keeping his gaze on her. Dexter would have eliminated the problem openly. Same with Hawkeye. Dartha would have reveled in it and made noise. Jack ... no. Not his arena. That left Vera. He waited till she caught his gaze. They locked eyes for a moment. An imperceptible nod. But she noticed.

"This? Your future this is? For this your knowledge and wisdom you gave? One like this to become?" Hodder considered the words of the elohim. "The choice was made when the man pulled the trigger, long before whatever happened here he decided his own fate."

Hodder mouthed words so Vera could see. "Hard choice. Hard woman."

I'm glad Vera sat next to me, as I wouldn't have liked most of the others doing so, and I let her know she is welcome there with a smile, the truest one I've given in... has it only been two days? Or three? All this time zone jumping is confusing.

"Yamamoto Sakura. Yoroshiku (Nice to meet you, informal) Vera." I reply, not knowing any other name to give. I'm fairly certain it is fake, but I can't help that much right now.

I glance away from Vera when she asks her question, looking out the window for lack of a better place to send my eyes. After a moment I answer "Sogakihee (Sniper/sharpshooter)?" I suddenly notice that I slipped into Japanese, and so switch back to English, with only a fairly slight accent. "A Sniper or... sharpshooter." I finish after having found the word. I wish that didn't sound so secretive, like I wasn't tell them everything, but it is the only thing I've really figured out so far.

"Oh, speaking of doctor and medicine, I never got my shot with all that excitement at the last tarmac. And where is Pope? The plane might fly better without him and Bunker, but I'm ready to get off this thing again as soon as possible. I pause to think for a moment before adding "After a safe landing.

Vera gives a slight nod, an inclination of the head to mark that she understood. "It's nice to meet you", she said in mostly informal Japanese.

"Pope should be coming soon." She looked at Hodder and shrugged just enough for him to see. Vera looked at him and said carefully, "I prefer to commune with the living." She smiled and tried to put a light tone on it. "Do you prefer people or spirits?"

Hodder thinks a moment about Vera's question. Its not an easy one to answer. "I rise in the morning eager to live another day in my world, the world of people and nature and art. The world of spirits is like a mirror for me, reflecting my own nature, and a conduit, channeling wisdom from someplace ... deep inside me ... from the Metaplanes ... from God ... It is never clear. I live for here. The other world helps me live at my best.

"I disagree with those who see spirits as mere tools. For me the elohim are allies and friends, as much as people can be. There are things that the elohim can never do, for me or through me. They can never love, as I have loved, or suffer the loss of it. They can create works of beauty, but I have yet to see them match the great ones of my kind. Were I to give my life for a friend, it would be my choice, not that of an elohim. Never that of an elohim.

"Both worlds are an integral part of me. Were I to be presented with the choice, give up people or give up the elohim, it would be a terrible loss for me either way. At the moment, I believe I would choose to be among such as you."