Adventure Nineteen: The Time Warp


 * Reines had smuggled out the core of the Aklo machine when he was dismissed, but the supporting equipment remains in the lab. Since the current date is a few days after his dismissal, we attempt to infiltrate the lab with Ruth posing as Dr. Reines’s replacement, P0P1 as robot assistant, Earl as her CO, and Alder as his adjutant.
 * Ruth uses her real name and military credentials to gain access to Reines’s old lab. Inside is a combination of computer station and workbenches where both human and Aklo technology were being worked on. It looks like this is where he built the framework to integrate the human and Aklo technology.
 * Alder leads their Eyebot guide out of the lab by pretending to fetch coffee. P0P1 follows and, upon leaving the room, attacks the Eyebot. Alder acts as if P0P1 has gone rogue to see what security measures activate. The Protectrons in the area ask if she needs assistance but do not seem alarmed until a klaxon starts going off.
 * The klaxons indicate a level 2 threat, which is considered minor and not likely to reach this facility, and the Protectrons advise people to stay at their workstations. Alder heads for the exit, causing the Protectron to issue a warning to her, but the two guards at the entrance of the facility give an alphanumeric code to make it stand down. The guards share that this attack is part of a pattern of nuisance attacks that occur every few days, which they believe are perpetrated by Canadian dissidents who resent the American presence.
 * P0P1 speaks with a Protectron who recognizes it as a more advanced model and therefore more important, which prompts the Protectron to act as if it is in charge. P0P1 acquires the floor plans and security codes to deactivate sections of the security fence.
 * Ruth finds a piece of Aklo tech in the lab that, if connected to the machine in Reines’s garage, could be used to focus the stored energy and transfer it to a separate dimension. To make use of it, they need an amount of processing power far beyond the capability of Reines’s machine. By combining it with the supercomputers in the lab, Ruth calculates that they could transfer all the stored energy over the course of about 4.5 years.
 * Reines determines that the reason that we are not caught in the time loop is that we have already experienced interdimensional travel via Aklo tech. Alder’s inoculated nanotech has transferred some of that effect to Teresa, causing her to remember slightly more with each loop. Earl provides his Aklo teleportation device, and once Teresa uses it, she has full memory in the next loop.
 * We search for additional sources of processing power in order to reduce the time needed to disperse the dimensional energy. P0P1 uses its influence to gather the robots it has authority over, which is all models except for Mister Gutsy and Sentry Bot. Ruth finds the VTOL aircraft in the lab facility, and determines that she can cannibalize the damaged units for processing power. Earl continues to pose as a general and scouts the facility to locate all supercomputers and other sources of power, and intimidates the military leaders to transfer control of the Mister Gutsys and Sentry Bots. The combined resources will reduce the amount of time needed to under 1.5 years.
 * We inoculate the inhabitants of the town over the course of a few weeks by dividing them into small groups, having them use Earl and Vania’s Aklo teleportation devices, then taking time to psychologically acclimate them and prepare them for the wasteland. A few people volunteer to stay behind with Reines to ensure he completes the transfer.
 * To protect the town, we tell the inhabitants that the energy dispersal will take an indefinite amount of time, and that those who stay behind will never get out. Once the inhabitants leave, Reines will tell the volunteers the truth.
 * We begin the transfer and find ourselves in the Aklo transit dimension facing Almara and her army of aberrant interdimensional creatures.