001 | video

[soothing]

[ ENCRYPTED 75% TO MEDICAL AND XENOBIOLOGY/GENETICS STAFF + BRUCE BANNER: ]
I took the liberty of checking out the blood samples we were able to get from the creatures at the end of the maze. Some of them seemed to have bacterial infections, which isn't surprising, but I also checked them against known DNA samples from Earth.

I don't want to alarm anyone, which is why I've encrypted this for now, but so far the results are all coming back in essentially the same manner. The DNA of these creatures is a mix between Earth creatures -- the lion is a large component, and there are also what appears to be genetic material from the Australian dingo and some sort of crocodile. However, at the present time it appears as though the largest genetic contribution comes from human beings.

Obviously the samples may have been compromised, as I've really only been able to work off their blood and some hair. I'm going to request a larger sample, preferably an entire specimen -- dead, obviously. Hopefully we can get more answers, and hopefully the human genetic material was just cross-contamination.

[ OPEN: ]
I've heard a few things about people returning to the end of the maze to clear out the rest of the creatures, in addition to a possible salvage operation. My name is Elizabeth Ross -- I'm a cellular biologist and university professor back home. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to request a mostly intact -- though definitely dead -- specimen of the creatures. I'm sure there are a lot of people who are wondering just what they are and how they got here, not to mention how they've survived the jumps, and I'm hoping that an entire specimen might be able to give us some answers.

How is everyone feeling?

Comments

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[Oh. He pauses, warily.]

I think it is a type of magic. It isn't the same as shapeshifting, but--my friend, Remus Lupin, has been helping me to learn a little more of it. He is a werewolf, so he understands some of it--though it is different than being a werewolf, too.

Why do you want to know?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

I'm curious -- and I'm a scientist. I want to understand things. We don't have shapeshifters or werewolves where I'm from.

It's entirely up to you, of course. Your brother and your companion could observe, if you'd like them to. It wouldn't hurt -- I would just want to see if there are differences in brain activity, to start out with.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

How would you see that?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

There are machines in medical that can do it. It's painless.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[There are too many machines, and perhaps it is foolish to distrust them, when so many are good and useful, but--]

These machines are here, on this ship--and they are safe? I would have to ask my brothers, and-- Alayne Stone as well.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

Yes. The doctors are having people double-check all their equipment as well, since it was here before we were.

If it doesn't work out, no hard feelings, okay?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[Her kindness and her caution--these things make Bran warm to the Lady Ross still a little more, and he relents. And it would be good, to have more practicing at changing skins, wouldn't it?]

If it's safe, then it would probably be all right. So long as Robb and Jon and Alayne knew of it, and-- if they were allowed there, if they wanted to be. And I would have to tell Remus Lupin, since he has been helping me to practice. It would be right for him to know as well.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

[ More practice and maybe more understanding, or that's Betty's hope. ]

Of course. They could all come and observe -- I'm sure they'd want to know you're safe. You can tell whoever you like.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

And it would need to be secret--for now. It can't be known by others. But I will ask, and think on it. And--perhaps I will be of help in some other way.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

It's not my secret to tell, so I won't. And if your brothers would like to speak to me about it, I'd be more than happy to.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[His nod is very serious and careful, a lord's nod.]

Then I will explain it to them. We will speak with you soon, Lady Ross. [And he would end there, except--surely the thought is silly, and not important, certainly not important to their conversation--] Do you know Mattie Ross?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

[ A boy who wants to be a man. She wants to gather him close, tell him to be a child while he can, but of course she doesn't. Can't, due to the distance.

His question takes her by surprise and it shows for a moment before her face settles into thoughtfulness. ] No, not as far as I know. [ But it's not as though her father was ever great about attending family reunions. ]

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[He nods, thoughtfully, not precisely disappointed by her answer. Perhaps she simply doesn't know.]

I have a friend here called Mattie Ross. Your Houses are called by the same name, so I thought you might be. And there are other Starks here-- [But now he is only chattering like a child, and he bites at his lip a little to stop himself.] It's interesting, that's all.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

[ There's a slight smile. ] It is interesting. I'd like to meet her; I don't know many of my own relatives, back home. My father was in the military, so the two of us traveled quite a bit.

[ She's not so sure why she's telling him that -- perhaps because he's young, because he's trusted her with a secret far more dear and she can't tell him what the creatures really are, not yet. ]

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[That certainly comes as a surprise--and if Bran had hoped to speak more of the monsters, he has temporarily forgotten.]

He was a solider, and he took you to the camps with him?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

I stayed on the military bases with the other families who moved there, to stay by their loved ones. I never went near actual combat, or even training, really.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

But a base--that is a camp, isn't it? Soldiers are allowed to keep their families close where you are from?

What if the base should be attacked?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

Sometimes. I was only ever on-base if it was considered secure, usually just ones within the country -- it's very rare for them to be attacked there.

When I was older, though, I was sent away to boarding school.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[An isolated camp of soldiers that does not know attack--not one behind castle walls, or so it seems--]

It must be a place of peace, where you are from. Why did your father wait until you were older to send you away?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

The world itself isn't, and there are a lot of problems within the country, but there aren't any wars within the borders itself. [ Since she doesn't know about the Chitauri yet. ]

My mother died. I'm not quite sure he knew what to do with me after that.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[Her description sounds a little like the Seven Kingdoms before the war began--so perhaps her camp was more of a castle or a keep--but what she says next distracts him anyway.]

I am sorry about your mother.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

[ So is she. Still, Betty gently pulls her necklace out from her shit. It's gold, the charm a heart covered in diamonds. ]

This was hers. I take after her more than I take after my father. [ Pause. ] You said you have a brother here?

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[He leans forward to examine the necklace with interest. Jewels and chains do not interest him very much, but things that help to remember people that have died are important.]

My brother, King Robb, came after I did--and now my brother Jon Snow has come aboard this ship. But we have friends aboard as well, the Lady Alayne Stone, and-- [Arya, he wants to say, but doesn't.] --and others. And Summer and Grey Wind and Lady--and now Ghost, too.

But I think it is good to have something to help you remember your mother, especially if there is no tomb or catacomb to visit.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[soothing]

[ Betty is happy to let him look. It's really all she has left of her mother, save for her own appearance. ]

I'm glad you have family here -- and friends, too. It makes it easier, I think. [ Bruce's presence here has certainly made things easier for her. ] Who are Summer, Grey Wind, Lady, and Ghost? Animals?

I agree. I try not to take it off.

[video || 75% encrypted]

[wolfdreamer]

[The video feed goes shaky for a moment as Bran picks up his device--it might be a little nauseating, all this sudden and sharp movement. But eventually he has it in the place that he wants it, and that's looking straight at Summer: a massive direwolf, laying on the floor with his head on his paws. He raises his eyes toward the device when it catches his interest, ears pricking, but otherwise doesn't move.

Bran re-situates the device after a few moments, with a proud little smile.]

That's Summer. He's a direwolf. And Grey Wind and Ghost are his brothers, and Lady is his sister. Each of us has one, and they have come all the way to this ship to be with us. They are good company, and helpful, and I'm very glad that they came to be with us. And it isn't the same as remembering a person, but-- they help us to remember home, too.