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[OOM: Allen the Alien]

Invincible is seated at a table near the door. He has a bookbag open on the table, with several textbooks scattered about. In front of him, he has a workbook and is reading over Physics problems. A World History text sits next to the Physics book. One of the rats has brought him a Coke, which he sips at from time to time.

Clearly, someone is taking advantage of the time stop to catch up on homework.

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There's the sound of dog claws going takka takka tak on the floor nearby, but it's kind of drowned out by the sound of metal and cerasteel clattering against itself. "Hey there," says Ellen, Dogmeat at her heels. "Looks like schoolwork?"

She's wearing her usual power armor, but with the headpiece pushed back (it itches) and with her helmet tucked under one arm. Busy day.

"Hi, Ellen. Yeah. Physics and History," says Mark. "I got busy with a fight and can't go to bed before I get this done. I figure here's better than home, what with time stopped over there."

He offers Dogmeat a hand to sniff and an ear scratching. "How're things with you?" he asks.

Dogmeat wags his tail cheerfully and licks at the offered hand. Hey, you never know.

"I've used this place for that kind of thing myself," Ellen says. "I'd offer to help with the homework, but I wasn't that great at physics and I don't know if you'd be studying the same history I learned in class... I'm doing all right, I've just come in from the Citadel. You'd probably call it the Pentagon, if it exists in your world."

Dogmeat may notice that this is the hand of a person who had steak for dinner. Nolan wanted to celebrate a hard-fought victory with an appropriate meal.

"Yeah, we have the Pentagon. I haven't been there yet, except to fly over DC, high enough that no one gets upset. They're still a bit nervous since that incident two years ago, so low-flying heroes need permission. It's like that in New York, too."

"I guess it's been reclaimed by your group since the War? The Pentagon, I mean. Not New York." New York, he reckons, is probably a radioactive crater or flooded, or both.

"I honestly don't know about New York," Ellen says. "But the Brotherhood of Steel sent Owyn Lyons and a group of soldiers under him east about twenty-three years ago to reclaim what tech they could find in the DC area, and they found the Citadel and its labs and a giant robot in the basement, so they moved in there and established themselves. It's our area headquarters now."

"A giant robot? Wow. I bet that came in handy. To say nothing of the fortifications that the Pentagon had. It's probably the best built building in DC, or close to it."

"Hey, I found something out today that might help with your spaceship communication issue," he says, changing the subject. "Evidently, Viltrumites - even half-Viltrumites like myself - can hold their breaths a long time. And escaping the atmosphere is easier than I thought it might be."

"Oh, yes. Liberty Prime made a lot of difference when we had to take back my father's water purifier," Ellen says. "Forty feet of robot with laser eyes and force-field-ripping arms turns out to be pretty good at breaking enemy fortifications."

Then she blinks, several times, as she puts together the next few sentences. "You... what, you flew into space? Under your own power?"

Mark grins. "Yup. It was pretty cool. You know, when I wasn't dealing with an alien cyclops trying to knock my head in."

It may be noted that Invincible's life is many things, but it is rarely boring.

"It turns out that Dad can hold his breath for two weeks straight. I managed a few hours, under the stress of a fist fight in freefall, but for my first time, I think that was pretty impressive."

"Guh. Excuse me a moment?" says Ellen, and turns away from the table to get in a good shudder or two. "Sorry. I- I still get wigged out, remembering all that... all that open black, everywhere, in every direction. I"m always amazed at people who can handle it."

Mark nods. "I can see that. I really didn't pay it much mind at the time. Like I said, I was dealing with a fist fight, which was a bit distracting. By the time I had a chance to look around, I was standing on the Moon."

"... that's a quarter of a million miles, isn't it?" says Ellen, blinking. "Good God. How fast are you?"

Mark shrugs. "It's not something I've really tested. It felt like I moved faster out there than when I flew to Antarctica last week. It is pretty amazing, now that I have time to think about it." He glances down at his Physics text. "I wonder if anyone's studied how it works."

(Canon states that Mark can go at least 800,000 kph outside an atmosphere, so the answer is "Pretty damned fast.")

"Wow." Ellen shakes her head ruefully. "And to think my idea of getting somewhere fast involves getting on a two headed cow and kicking her in the ribs until she runs... yeah, I'd bet you could get to the ship in orbit in no time at all. That's kind of incredible."

Mark laughs at the idea of riding a two-headed cow, but nods. "That's what I was thinking. Assuming, of course, that no one on that ship has problems with someone in a yellow and blue costume knocking on their door."

"Of course, this won't preclude you rigging your transmitter, but I could go up and see if anyone's paying attention. Plus, as I said before, I'm good with the heavy lifting. If you need the help, that is."

"I don't know if they would or not. There weren't that many unfrozen humans on the ship when I left," Ellen says. "And one of them didn't even speak English, so I don't know about him, but... well, Sally would probably be okay with it. It might work. The trick is to find the ship, since I don't know exactly where it is- I can't be sure if it had a geosynchronous orbit or not. That might be a lot of sky to search."

"But I could really use the help. I'm going to have other responsibilities soon, if Knight-Captain Colvin was right, so getting stuff done while I can isn't a bad idea."

Mark nods. Space is definitely big, even within the exosphere of Earth. "I could give it a try, at least. Mind you, I'm not sure how I could show you where it is, once I find it. Unless you have some sort of telescope."

"That might be something to look for. An intact observatory."

"Possibly," says Ellen. "Possibly. I'll have to see- I wonder if any of the old satellite com towers in the northwestern Wasteland are still viable, now that I think about it. If I could do something with them, they're designed for searching the sky, aren't they?"

"If they're like the big ones in New Mexico," says Mark, "then definitely. They would be very useful for finding radio sources at the least. Do you think they'd be working?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Ellen says. "Some of the computers in Fort Constantine were still working, and it's in the same area. The Enclave had some kind of satellite uplink anyway, before Raven Rock was destroyed. Maybe they were working through one of the towers. It can't hurt to check. At least I know where they are." She shrugs. "And if worst comes to worst, they're probably a good thing to try to adapt into the radio transmitter instead of climbing up on those nav towers."

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