shatterverse | (no subject)

Dinah is grinning. She's been grinning ever since Zinda spoke.

"Townsville?"

"Some explorer's name." Zinda's grinning a little too. "If their Townsville matches the ones in our maps, we should be right-o. I just hope this world didn't decide to put their airfield on the other side'a town."

Barbara's snickering into her hand, "Okay, Zinda. Get us on the ground."

"Aye aye, sir." Zinda grins, saluting, and about-faces back into the cabin.

Landing is accomplished shortly, perfectly smoothly.

Outside the pressurised Aerie One, the air is hot and dry; the sun is very fierce, and the landscape consists mostly of red rocks (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v166/weaverandom/castle-hill_smaller.jpg) and dry vegetation.

"Welcome to Townsville, Australia, and thanks for flyin' Multiversal Tours," Zinda says brightly over the intercom. "You'll find exits to your left, please don't get killed and enjoy your stay. Local time is ten-forty-seven AM, and thanks for flyin' Crazy Dimension-hoppin' Tours!"

Beat.

"Ah, shucks, I said that thanks bit twice. Skip, I'm stayin' with the boat, you guys head on out."

With a sigh Barbara shakes her head, "I'm probably not going to be an asset out there. Dinah," she looks up at the woman next to her, "Quick recon, focus on people who can tell us what's going on and possible fuel supplies. I'll see if I can get some sort of access to the communication network out here."

She lifts an eyebrow and grins, "Stay in touch."

"Got it," Dinah replies, grinning right back at her BFF.

She ditches her coat, because it's so warm out, and disembarks nimbly in just the body and fishnets.

Once outside she stops, one hand on hip, and surveys the area.

"Tell me you can at least still hear me, Oracle."

"We're still in business, Dinah," Barbara's voice might betray a hint of relief. "The equipment all works, it just seems that no one's using it."

"That's a severe relief," Dinah says, as the plan hatch shuts behind her.

"Have you got visual, though? Can you see..."

Her running commentary trails off as she actually registers the complete devastation around her.

"Oh god, Oracle, can you see this?"

"I haven't cracked any imaging systems, Dinah." Barbara's voice is soft, "What's it like out there?" What could shut down global communications like this?

Dinah swallows, painfully, and walks forward at an almost funereal pace, eyes wide and darting all over.

"It's a wasteland," she says. "The whole city's entirely deserted and half these buildings are demolished. Looks like Godzilla's been on the rampage, and not this morning, either."

"That's..." Barbara swallows. "How long ago, do you think?" Should they be looking for survivors?

Which is pretty much exactly what Dinah's thinking, too.

"I'm looking now."

The airport building is the closest, and she stops to examine a convenient part of rubble that's been knocked off the otherwise seemingly functional building.

"It's not fresh, but there are no plants growing on the rubble itself. Animals have been around, th..."

That's her interrupting herself when she finds what exactly has been covered by the rubble.

"About four weeks," she says, quietly and certainly.

Barbara's silent for a long moment. "No sign of people?" Dead or alive? "They probably evacuated, but... from what?"

"Some sign of people."

Dinah's voice suggests that if she mentioned throwing up this time, she'd be serious. Otherwise, it's still subdued.

"Nothing recent, though. I'm going to check the building."

"Be--" Barbara shakes her head. Dinah will be as careful as she usually is. Not very.

"I've got a link to what I'm pretty sure is a military recon satellite," she says instead. "We should have some sort of idea of what the area looks like from above in a few minutes." As soon as she cracks the security system.

"As long as you tell me before I get stomped by whatever it is," Dinah informs her.

"OK, the building looks empty, but stable. Which is more than I can say for any of the planes outside. No power though, but lots of computers."

The audible shudder on that word is deliberate.

"Looks like the place was emptied out quickly. Sudden evacuation? Wait...

"OK, there've been looters by in the past week or so."

"Evacuation, but still looting. Can you tell what they took?" Because if there are computers still in place these are some awfully odd looters. Leaving behind the expensive electronics?

"Food, mostly," Dinah says. "Starbucks is stripped bare."

Of course there's a Starbucks. It's an airport.

"But Tandy - looks like a Radioshack - that's mostly intact. Apparently they're after survival, not money."

"That's not an encouraging sign," Barbara's hands are still flickering across her keyboard. "Ha! Got eyes in the air now. Hold on while I load up..." her voice trails off.

"Oracle?"

Dinah steps away from the shop, into the middle of the desreted check in area.

"You still there?"

Is that an 'OMG it's awful' silence, or a 'run Dinah run!' silence?

Her voice, when it comes back, suggests the former. "Dinah... The entire water-front is just gone." she swallows. "I think... Whatever happened here, it was bad." Her eyes are scanning frantically for some sign of survivors in the satellite imagery.

"I'm getting that."

Dinah looks around at the airport and sighs internally.

"I'm going to head out, Oracle. Look for survivors. Maybe we can help."

"I hope so," Barbara's voice is soft. "You'll probably need some sort of transportation. The airport's on the outskirts of town. I'm guessing that's why it's mostly intact."

Dinah pauses by the door again, running her hand over her face.

"OK. I can hotwire a motorbike. Guess no one's going to miss it now."

"This imagery could be higher resolution," Barbara mutters. Then, more clearly, "Parking lot's to your east. Looks like there's a motorcycle on the south side... Or possibly a compact car. It's hard to tell on this thing."