(EPs: 2, total: 15; Jamie 3, total: 16; Art: 2, total 14)
Imperial Military Outpost, Planet Cinnamon.
Jamie decided to invite the 4 guards who had proved particularly diligent in their devotion to protecting the Party to travel aboard the Sorcerer. The Base Commander said that they would have to volunteer. They did. .” [Earlier notes said Ed Robins protected Shepherd during the Power Suit episode; Maj. Woshorevsky leads the 3 survivors of the flitter crash.] They were:
Housekeeping In Space: Sara
The Sorcerer spent two weeks in space during which time Art offered to remove Jannisett’s zot box. She consented eagerly. After 5 days, the blue bodyguard was recovered enough to play the gun game with Eddie and the soldiers. (The soldiers recognize the game as an advanced version of a game system, similar to something used in military exercises. It has to be powered through Eddie’s auxiliary generator as there is no way to plug it into the ship.) However, after 2 weeks, she realizes that the operation permanently lowered her agility. [-2 DEX. Repurchaseable over time at one per 2 EP.] Art did not inform her right away of the “something else” it put in place during the operation.
Shepherd [Mark III] delivered a letter to Jamie from Lady Juri. It had been hidden by Mark II. It recommended “not playing their games” with the incoming nobles; advise that caused Jamie chagrin. Jamie: “I wish your former self had given this to me sooner.”
Rapidly the group realized that the defunct ship had been either attached to the Sorcerer or in super-stealth mode. The military attaches recommended not rescuing the survivor. “Wow! Good optics you have! That’s a lightly armored para-military suit.” Nonetheless, rescue was affected. The survivor proved to be a woman; a very striking woman. [PRE 23, COM 18.]
Eddie: “What the hell were you doing following us?”
Jamie: “Sucks to be you.”
Eddie, menacingly: “Nobody but us knows you’re here. No one but us knows you survived.”
Girl: “I got a wrong report on you people; it didn’t say you’d kill me out of hand. What can I do for you?”
Shepherd: “Where’s the transmitter. You were transmitting into space just before we came for you.”
Girl: “On the suit someplace.”
Shepherd: “Who were you working for?”
Girl: “I recommend that you search me thoroughly. Then the military personnel can leave and I will tell you everything.”
Shepherd commenced a search.
Eddie: “She’s chipped.”
Girl: “My name is Sara. Do you want supposition or fact?”
Eddie: “Fact and the suppositions you’ve drawn and you telling which is which.”
Sara: “My first supposition is that I am working for an upper echelon noble house. The ship had three others, each representing different houses. The ship was supplied by the Goddards who also supplied the pilot. There was no McKenzie operative, but I think I was working for them – or the Smiths.
“One of the other three was a very strange fellow – albino, weak, distracted. He didn’t act like an agent. He may not have been actually albino; his eyes weren’t pink, but he had pale skin and white hair. We called him ‘Jones’; we made that up. He never gave us a name.
“The last guy introduced himself as “Whitey”; he may have been making fun of Jones. He was either from the Gould or one of the sub-houses. It may have just been me because I may have been the only ‘outside talent’ – but he dropped enough clues on me to make me think he wanted me to think he was from the Sax. I didn’t buy it.”
Eddie: “Why were you following us?”
Sara: “To observe and report. I was given a basic dossier on Eddie, Janniset, Art, Shepherd, Banker, and Miss McFadden. I’d never heard of any of you before.”
Eddie: “How was your team assembled?”
Sara: “I was the last one there. I don’t know. We took off from <a planet deep in the Core>. We went to Cinnamon and orbited almost a month. Before you took off we had had two re-supply runs: landed on the far side of the planet at a camp. Had a half a day to stretch our legs. There were 2 landing pads at the camp, so we may not have been the only users.”
The group pressed their “captive” about her mission.
Sara: “I work under a terminate-at-will contract. I don’t consider myself under contract any more. I am an independent contractor.” As a good professional, she was completely resistant to telling about previous experiences working for corporate entities, that she considered irrelevant to the present.
Eddie explained about the assassination attempts on Cinnamon.
Sara: “Wasn’t us. We were armed with one missile. We COULD have blown you away at any time.”
She was asked about the dossier information.
Sara: “Jannisestt killed 3 people on FRW. There were 12 casualties at Port, 4 of which were definitely hers with 2 more probables. Port is the last mention of Croy before you all appeared at Space Station Delta. The first report of Jannisett came from FRW; of Art, from SSDelta. The SS Delta report was the first sighting of Croy in about 10 years. Ten years ago he was pacifying a rebellion on Chartreuse amongst a couple of other high-profile actions – like the attempted coup on that pleasure planet.” She turned to Jannisett, “I practically memorized all the lines in the commercials you made. It was all that was available to look at. We had inadequate prep for a month’s incarceration in a small ship.”
Eddie: “What is the nature of your skill set that qualifies you as an observer on a ship?”
Sara: “It’s probably my rep rather than my skills. I’m competent. I fulfill contracts not only to the written word but to the – spirit. I’m trustworthy. Not knowing what I was observing for, I wouldn’t affect the results.”
Eddie: “How do you normal gather information? Computer hacker? Pillow-talk? Burglar?”
Sara: “I’m not an assassin. Yes, burglar. I redistribute information. I’ve never done sabotage, I’ve never destroyed data, I’ve never assassinated. I’m known as ‘Silky’ in the trade.”
Sara turned over her credit chip as security for her good behaviour.
Shepherd to Sara: “We’re not charging you for your stay with us.”
Sara: “Air has to cost something.”
Sara was very co-operative. (Shepherd, however, had to work to keep his Fringe accent intact, because Sara was so very comfortable with her Core accent.)
Shepherd and Jamie insisted she be restricted to quarters save when in the presence of a crew member.
Jannisett: “I like her.”
Art suggested that the three noble houses working together on Sara’s ship might be the action of an AI. Jamie and Jannisett pored over the data and deduced that Sara’s mission had already started before the Unnamed Royal had leaked the information about Jamie’s assignment to the Noble Houses.
More Revelations
In that week’s time, with vigourous exercise, Jannisett regained some [one point] of her lost dexterity.
Jannisett brought her own letter from Juri to the group and asked for help in recovering the data. Eddie and Shepherd believe it totally lost but were willing to work at it. Sara offered to help if she could have access to her suit’s computer. Jannisett persuaded Eddie to hand over said computer and, in time, Sara produced a successfully intact vid disk. Jannisett showed the crew that Jinan seemed clearly under Juri’s influence and that James Grey had survived Neon Pig. However the delay in receipt of his message meant that the only lead to recontacting Grey would be at “home”. Jannisett was clearly worried about Jinan’s reference to “her marriage” but the others tried to explain that it might just be a disgruntled teenage way of saying “I never get to see you.” [See Interlude: Letter ]
Another operation.
Arthur offered Jamie eye surgery complete with an organic cape with a tentacle that, by inserting itself into her eye, could facilitate communication with the TA-1. The negotiator was queasy at the thought and uneasy for another reason.
Jamie: “Was there not a problem with Jannisett’s recovery from your surgery?”
Art: “It was a side effect of resetting the age markers.”
Jannisett: “Resetting the age markers?”
Art: “When you spoke about dying in a couple of years, I thought you intended that I alter that necessity.”
Banker: “You actually fixed that?”
Art: “Yes. But her special powers were linked to the age markers. I tried to minimize that.”
Jamie’s reaction intrigued the xeno-biologist.
Art: “I am very interested in the images in the human Id that create such horror reaction.”
Shepherd: “Any sentence including the words ‘tentacle’ and ‘insert’ is creepy.”
Nevertheless, Jamie McFadden chose to undergo the operation that would, theoretically, begin the process of returning her eyes to a more normal appearance while retaining full functionality.
Banker expressed the belief that the hypothetical plane would, in 2 weeks, hit the planet in more than one place via an extra dimension. Jamie does not understand the pilot’s math.
The planet showed no sign of the Aliens. It had low-grade plant life, no discernible higher life forms, barely tolerable air. Jamie’s sensors picked up one abnormality: a cave structure within rugged foothills that proved hard to penetrate.
Eddie and Shepherd sent the bugs to investigate the cave; the mechanical devices are, however, not rapid moving. Shepherd tried – with great difficulty – and succeeded in seeing the bug communicating with itself. Nonetheless, the bug can only be tracked some 15-feet into the cave; the group decided to follow and pick them up. Banker stayed with the ship.
Investigating the cave.
The three space marines took point. At 30 meters, contact was lost so the distance between the crew and the military group was collapsed to 20-25 meters. The passage varied from 10-20’ in width. Stalactites hung from the ceiling.
Eddie, Jamie and Jannisett all found that their practise with the Gun Game had given them facility with co-ordinating with each other and the soldiers who had also played.
Marr: “We might have something. The passage opens to a room.”
Eddie: “Pull back nice and quiet, and wait for us.”
Marr: “We can already hear Art’s vehicle.”
Jamie: “What’s in there?”
Marr: “We saw what might be a machine. Nothing moving.”
Shepherd sent a bug ahead; it reported a modified natural cave structure that had been enlarged some tens of thousands of years ago (grossly extrapolated from the re-growth of stalactites). Eddie took a wall sample for later analyses. Then the engineer insisted at a closer look at the alien machine. As he stepped towards the large chamber, Jamie said, “Stop there and look, Eddie.”
Shepherd: “The floor is artificial and may have sensors.”
Eddie: “There’s a low level energy field in the floor, and a larger level field about 1x2 hexes around the device – which itself is 6-sided and seems to be in the center of the room.”
Shepherd: “I’m not sensing information flow or communication beams.”
Eddie: “The energy isn’t familiar. Nor is it very strong.” He walked into the room and the floor flared around his feet. [1 body point through the boots.] Quickly he stepped back and lifted a foot. The boot sole was melted.
Jamie noted that the ceiling was divided into 120-degree wedges visible to her peculiar vision. There were no other visible exits from the cave.
Art generated a defense field for Eddie’s feet.
Eddie: “Feels like walking on grease and water.” Then he suggested using the TA-1 communicators – the two that he had built and the one Art had grown – to signal the room that entrance was permissible.
Ed, clearly unsettled by the already established reaction of the room: “Can’t we put the communicators on a stick rather than a person?”
Jannisett looped a rope around the engineer’s waist. Eddie grinned as his vest flashed the “Friend” pattern Jamie had identified, and stepped in. He disappeared in a blaze of energy. Art’s vision was flashed [3 phases] . Jamie saw an energy flare. The rope dropped to the ground; all pieces that had touched Eddie were gone.
There was only one more of the everyman-communications vests left; the one Art had grown was only suitable for Jamie. Jamie looked at her bodyguard; without a word, Jannisett shrugged on the vest. Together they flashed the pattern. Then marine corporal Thorne stepped between them and laid his hands on their shoulders.
Suddenly burned into his retina was an image of 3 people who start to crumple. Blindly he grabbed the middle figure. The marine’s grip as he fell towards Eddie pulled the two women forward. Jannisett collapsed unconscious. [The teleport hit them with 12,60 NND; Jamie only took half and was just stunned.]
As Eddie scrabbled to find the other two bodies, he took another [6,6] burn to his hands. Succeeding in pulling them out [ Jannisett took another 1,1] , still blinded he resorted to sniffing to detect further possible burning bodies.
Eventually the engineer’s eyesight cleared and Jamie woke. “Well that sucked,” she commented, then noticed, “Eddie?” Together they work on the other two. Neither Eddie’s nor Jannisett’s hair had survived the transit and the unconscious blue girl looked severely injured. For such a heavy damage-dealer, the blue bodyguard had proven time and again to be rather fragile. Eddie pried the marine out of his armor; he, too, had survived and was hairless.
Having done what they could for the injured, Eddie “retraced” his steps up the passage to the planet surface. The cave opening and the path to it seemed to be very different from the one he had entered before. Outside it was barren. Snow was falling and the temperature seemed to be below freezing.
Art created a thoraxic bio-mass that could flash the AT-1 communication patterns on his chest. Then he projected a force field onto Sgt. Marr, stronger than the one he’d used on Eddie. They established physical contact and stepped through the portal. [9 Body, 36 Stun, NND, of which Art took none [this is a change, the GM forgot Art had 10 points of LOW] and Marr took 4,4.] The sergeant quickly jumped off the frying-pan floor; Art trundled at his normal slow rate. Corporal Thorne tried to pull the alien along, managing to leverage the alien’s full 880-pounds.
Art mind-spoke to Shepherd, who had retreated to the ship: “We’re here. Everyone’s alive. The only one not present is Eddie.”
Shepherd mentally groaned and then chipped to Banker: “They’re through. They’re alive. They haven’t found Eddie.”
Art tried to discuss Banker’s lectures on space and dimension that implied the new environment might be a parallel plane. The alien was brought to a sense of the more immediate needs. As it slathered a newly-generated salve on the now-conscious blue girl, Art asked: “What do you call your people?”
Jannisett, confused: “We’re -- People. Servants of the Owners.”
Jamie: “You _were_ servants. No more.”
Art: “Did you know that this blue colour is artificial? I can unlock the processes and return you to the shades Homo sapiens considers normal.”
Jannisett, alarmed: “This _is_ normal. I am normal. I like my colour.”
Art: “By design you were meant to look different and feel different.”
Jannisett: “The more you tell me about myself, the less human I seem.”
Jamie to Art: “You’re NOT helping!” To Jannisett: “You ARE human!”
Thorne: “Shall we go get Eddie?”
Jamie: “Art, keep patching Janni and Thorne. Marr and I will go get Eddie.
Art: “Let me know if you find a Star Field.”
Jannisett looked at the alien with confusion. Art’s salve started the healing process on the blue girl. [4 Body returned.]
Once Eddie had been collected, Marr asked: “Want us to do a long range reconnaissance patrol and find some aliens to kidnap?”
Jamie: “No.”
Marr: “Right. Good.”
Jamie had Banker take the ship aloft and beam an experimental communication frequency. The transported group sensed the frequency: they were still on Zero Pop #2. They had been transported to the other side of the planet. Pick-up was arranged.
During the follow up discussion, someone noted that Zero Pop #2 would make a good agricultural planet.
Jannisett asked her most pressing question. “How much of this can I tell Cleopatra?” A discussion resulted exploring possible ramifications, including how the AIs hostile to the TA-1 might use a portal that presumably had access to the TA-1 planets.
Jannisett: “If some AIs will send bombs through the portals expecting to blow up Aliens, what will happen if some of these portals open onto _our_ planets?”
Banker: “We have less than a month until the plane encompasses tport point A and point B. We don’t know if B goes to A or B goes to C.”
Jamie: “We don’t know if the Aliens can tell it to go to one or the other.”
There was some experimentation sending a probe through the teleport portal.
Shepherd: “Was the energy expended relative to the expendable mass?”
Banker: “The least excess energy was from the probe going through. The most was when three people went through. That produced more than twice the excess energy that was produced when Eddie went through.
Banker: “The hold Cleopatra has over Janni is either continual or fictional.”
Jamie: “No. The hold is real. Its basis may be fictional. We won’t know ‘til we find the evacuation ship.”
(EPs: 2, total: 15; Jamie 3, total: 16; Art: 2, total 14)
Next Run: Thanksgiving Sunday at Sheryl’s house.
Garry will be available; Richard will not.
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