(EPs: 1, total: 16; Jamie, total: 17; Art, total 15)
(Fate Point: Jannisett, 1)
Note from previous episodes.
The 4 military guards who had proved particularly diligent in their devotion to protecting the Party now travel aboard the Sorcerer.
Zero-Pop Planet #2, Day 1.
The planet with the two teleport caves orbited a class 9 star, to Art’s great pleasure.
He left his cabin and headed towards the Bridge. In a few moments he noticed he was being followed.
Shepherd: “Can I help you with anything? Are you lost?”
Robbins: “No, not lost.”
Shepherd: “Why are you following me?”
Robbins, over his communicator: “Jamie, I think we’ve got someone else now. Somebody else. Looks like Shepherd but is not the guy.”
Jamie, over her communicator: “This is getting old.”
Shepherd, wryly: “Probably because it _is_ Shepherd. Can you have this person stop following me?”
Jamie: “No, you gave him the assignment.”
Robbins: “I’ll back off.”
Jamie, to Shepherd: “Have we met before?”
Shepherd: “Yes. I went to sleep two weeks ago.”
Banker called over to Art: “Another change going on with Shepherd.”
Jamie, to Shepherd: “Someone else has been with us.”
Shepherd: “Max.”
Jamie: “Yes, Max. Now we’ve seen three distinct personalities. You are the second.”
Art trundled up and held a net over Shepherd’s head: “Hold still.”
Shepherd, mentally: “Get away!”
Art: “It’s not invasive. It won’t alter your physiology. It will help me in my studies.”
Banker and Jamie persuaded Shepherd to humour Art.
Banker: “It won’t slow you down as much as that.” He poked Shepherd’s belly.
As Eddie described how nanites altered Shepherd’s body, the latter noted that Robbins had a slight reaction. He commented to the guard, “Deep undercover.”
The Party then apprised Shepherd #2 of the events that had happened in his “absence, including:
Banker explained again his theory that the hypothetical plane would, in 2 weeks, hit this planet in more than one place via an extra dimension. Then the pilot requested that Art scan to see if the hypothetical plane somehow showed to his alien senses. They did not.
Jamie returned to her room and brought out a letter that she waved at Shepherd, “Want to talk about this?”
Shepherd: “What about it.”
Jamie: “Max gave it to me. You had hidden it. Your multi-personality thing is annoying; but THIS has become dangerous. We needed this information.”
Shepherd: “You were in the bunker. I was curious. I tried to figure it out… then it was Now.”
Jamie: “What about the dossier the commandant gave you?”
Shepherd: “All you have to do is ask.”
Jamie: “We can’t ask about what we don’t know.”
Banker: “She’s got a point.”
There ensued a heated discussion of Trust.
Banker: “This is the second most trust-worthy Shepherd – unless Max was conning us.”
Jannisett: “I liked Max.”
Art: “Shepherd has no control over the change.”
Banker to Shepherd: “Would you object to wearing a device that lets us know when the change has happened?”
Eventually a mechanism was rigged in Shepherd’s room to alert Jamie of such a change.
Shepherd: “I should start keeping a journal. That might be really useful.”
Jamie and Art heatedly discussed AIs.
Eddie experimented with cave surveillance and determined that they had a difficult-to-detect energy field. Art could see the field.
Art and Jamie created concealment fabric to hide the surveillance cameras from alien senses.
Zero-Pop Planet #2, Day 2.
The applicable people returned to working on the teleport caves.
Shepherd asked if Art could put a hole in the “wall energy” so that he could receive input from the relay line of bugs he placed in the corridor to cave A.
Banker determined that the two caves were physically very similar.
The eventual plan, given the time constraints, was to do their “best concealment” that allowed Art a line of sight.
Art and Jamie had two sheets for caves A & B plus a “bug in a rug” on a vest.
A probe wearing the vest was sent from A to B. The vest took damage. Shepherd heard a small energy flux with his extra senses. Art felt that it was a large energy flux. Eddie saw no change and swore to study the phenomenon more.
During the trip Art prevented Shepherd from plugging himself into the ship. The master spy did not seem to understand why he felt compelled to do so.
As the master spy left the captain’s office, he saw an orderly pushing a cart of coffee urns down the corridor. “Some decaf for you, sir?”
Shepherd: “Yeah, sure. To go.” The orderly handed him a china cup with a gold rim. [The significance of this eludes the Chronicler.]
An interview with Lady Juri revealed that Chauncy had apprehended a spy. Chauncy had been shot in the head during the process, resulting in the spy barely surviving. Juri was willing to turn the spy over to Our Heroes if he proved to be the James Grey that Jannisett held in such esteem. Although Jannisett was not allowed to see the damage – the spy had been placed in a tank, without medical care, since his capture – it was, indeed, Grey.
It was determined that Art’s technology could best heal the critical damage to Grey, and so the invalid was transferred to the Sorcerer.
Chauncy commented to Shepherd: “There is a being named Talaah who…. If he catches up to you, you may want to listen to what he says.”
(EPs: 1, total: 16; Jamie, total: 17; Art, total 15)
(Fate Point: Jannisett, 1)
Next Run: 16.Jan.05
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