10-21-2018, 03:28 AM
Ninurta yawned and stretched in the roiling hot spring. He considered briefly getting out long enough to roll a smoke, but decided his makings were too far away, and the idea of getting out of the spring sopping wet in the cool breeze didn't appeal to him - not even a little bit. He decided to put off the smoke until after his soak, and turned his mind to more pressing matters.
Forrestal was in grave danger - correction, would be in grave danger, but that was some 330 years from now. They had a Time Machine, fer gawd's sake, and so could afford to soak for a month and STILL arrive back at the Naval Hospital just in the nick of time... or any other time, for that matter. When one has access to a time machine, timing becomes less of an issue. He briefly considered that perhaps they should return BEFORE Forrestal was admitted to the hospital and rescue him then, but that could muck up timelines and such, and besides he wouldn't get a chance to "interview" the goons sent after Forrestal if they did it that way.
Ninurta REALLY wanted to interview them.
This business of having to keep timelines intact could give one a headache. He heaved a sigh. This would be a good time for a smoke, but the breeze was still cool, and he was still soaked.
Then again, rescuing Forrestal at all would throw a kink in the timeline. After all, in the history books, Forrestal's body was found on the hospital lawn beneath his window. If they rescued him, there would be no body, and the timeline would change to a mere "disappearance", which could cause events on down the timeline to unfold differently, as whomever had sent the goons would surely keep trying, with unknown repercussions. Those repercussions could have unintended and massive consequences, in the same way that a butterfly flapping it's wings in the Amazon could set air disturbances in motion that could lead to a typhoon in the Philippines. Ninurta sighed again.
A sudden thought - that finding a Forrestal lookalike might work, since after his trip out the window he wouldn't have to sound like Forrestal, might expedite saving the man from the goons - resulted in a wolfish grin breaking out across Ninurta's face... which Mucklebones didn't fail to notice, and which she took as a compliment, floating on her back as she was at the time in the hot spring. Ninurta was utterly oblivious to her response when she said "What're ye thinkin'?"
Coming back to himself and causing the grin to vanish, Ninurta responded with "Ah, nuthin'... jes' thinkin' how nice it is to be on vacation is all". Muckles frowned slightly and splashed water at him, which didn't phase Ninurta since he was already soaked and starting to resemble a prune.
His thoughts turned to the weird object Tibbs had retrieved from the dead guard's innards. Ninurta still wasn't completely certain what a "mainyu" was, but he was relatively certain that if it was a dangerous as Tibbs claimed, it probably wasn't a good idea to carry one around practically hugged to his bosom. Tibbs, however, seemed entirely unconcerned by it. It looked to him like a black cow's udder with an extra teat, which on the face of it didn't seem all that dangerous to him. That led to musings about...
... this "Raji" character. From Muckles' description, the being sounded like a first-class skank. Ninurta wondered what it was she had that placed her in such demand. "Prolly jus' 'cause she's willin' to give it up on demand" he muttered, just before he fell asleep in the hot spring.
.
Forrestal was in grave danger - correction, would be in grave danger, but that was some 330 years from now. They had a Time Machine, fer gawd's sake, and so could afford to soak for a month and STILL arrive back at the Naval Hospital just in the nick of time... or any other time, for that matter. When one has access to a time machine, timing becomes less of an issue. He briefly considered that perhaps they should return BEFORE Forrestal was admitted to the hospital and rescue him then, but that could muck up timelines and such, and besides he wouldn't get a chance to "interview" the goons sent after Forrestal if they did it that way.
Ninurta REALLY wanted to interview them.
This business of having to keep timelines intact could give one a headache. He heaved a sigh. This would be a good time for a smoke, but the breeze was still cool, and he was still soaked.
Then again, rescuing Forrestal at all would throw a kink in the timeline. After all, in the history books, Forrestal's body was found on the hospital lawn beneath his window. If they rescued him, there would be no body, and the timeline would change to a mere "disappearance", which could cause events on down the timeline to unfold differently, as whomever had sent the goons would surely keep trying, with unknown repercussions. Those repercussions could have unintended and massive consequences, in the same way that a butterfly flapping it's wings in the Amazon could set air disturbances in motion that could lead to a typhoon in the Philippines. Ninurta sighed again.
A sudden thought - that finding a Forrestal lookalike might work, since after his trip out the window he wouldn't have to sound like Forrestal, might expedite saving the man from the goons - resulted in a wolfish grin breaking out across Ninurta's face... which Mucklebones didn't fail to notice, and which she took as a compliment, floating on her back as she was at the time in the hot spring. Ninurta was utterly oblivious to her response when she said "What're ye thinkin'?"
Coming back to himself and causing the grin to vanish, Ninurta responded with "Ah, nuthin'... jes' thinkin' how nice it is to be on vacation is all". Muckles frowned slightly and splashed water at him, which didn't phase Ninurta since he was already soaked and starting to resemble a prune.
His thoughts turned to the weird object Tibbs had retrieved from the dead guard's innards. Ninurta still wasn't completely certain what a "mainyu" was, but he was relatively certain that if it was a dangerous as Tibbs claimed, it probably wasn't a good idea to carry one around practically hugged to his bosom. Tibbs, however, seemed entirely unconcerned by it. It looked to him like a black cow's udder with an extra teat, which on the face of it didn't seem all that dangerous to him. That led to musings about...
... this "Raji" character. From Muckles' description, the being sounded like a first-class skank. Ninurta wondered what it was she had that placed her in such demand. "Prolly jus' 'cause she's willin' to give it up on demand" he muttered, just before he fell asleep in the hot spring.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’