Early October 1997 Responses

From:  Andy Campbell (Urugg)

Looks like I was first to read the update first this time - and damn if there
isn't enough action going on for three teams!  

Initial thoughts - although the rioters were dispersed, it looks like the
life support centers are still being held.  Am I right on this?  No mention
was made that they had been retaken unless I missed something.  

GM Reply------------------------------
I guess I need to clarify that.  After the rioting group was broken up and
the police stormed the west building, the other protesters gave up the
cause.  This was aparently due to the combined factors of the rioting
disaster, heavy police presence and a lack of organization.

The police could not determine who had organized the protest, and did not
have room to imprison a few hundred protesters, so everyone was let go. 
The four infected Humans, however, are still in the north med center, under
high security.
----------------------------------------

The lockdown should be good for us overall - give us some time to work on the
life support problem (if there still is one) and to set up the ambush / sting
for the invisible raiders.  We just need to make sure some roving security
patrol doesn't mistake us for curfew-breakers...

Looks like Szygy's found a good lead in the computer system.  Maybe the "data
trail" (extra lines of code) can lead him to the hacker mucking about in the
security access files?

One odd thing - Selson mentioned that the Star's Arm leader has usually been
present (and prominently so) at the protests so far - but not this one.  Why?
 Has she gotten wind of our group's presence and "gone underground"?  Do they
have a field camp at Lost Point / in an abandoned monorail tube / in an
abandoned monorail car / elsewhere outside Metrosphere, from which she only
enters when protests are imminent?  Did Star's Arm introduce the Rage
epidemic and Loer stayed home to avoid injury in the ensuing chaos of the
protest?  Was the protest and / or Rage epidemic created to cover Loer and
the core Star's Arm group seizure of the life support facilities (assuming
these are still held by Star's Arm).

That's the initial brainstorming.  Other ideas?

PS This week I'll be pretty much unable to check my mail (double-session
classes after work Tues-Thurs and a single-session Fri. nite).  So if I'm
late responding to email, that's the reason - I'm not ignoring you : )  I'll
try to log on Mon. and Friday nite  at least though to catch up on things.

Some Official actions follow in next email...

Andy

From:  Layne Saltern (GM)

Clark Valentine wrote:
>Taanik: "Hey, uh, Kare & Zane, um, that poor schmoe that 
>Urugg, T'Klkk, and Syzygy wasted, um, do they have to go 
>to a hearing or appear before a magistrate or something?  
>I'd be surprised if you can kill a guy and just walk away... 
>but then again it was a pretty clear-cut case of self-defense."
>
>Layne?  How is a gunfight handled by the local cops?  
>Any legal repercussions on the team?

"We at Streel frown upon unnecessary killing in the city, and may hold
those who perform this act liable for any loss in sales as a result
thereof."

The Human had a Stamina of 45, but his temporary rage made it as though he
had a Stamina of 65 (just like a stimdose can temporarily raise a person's
Stamina).  As a result of the Human's hyperactive state, it took 71 points
of damage to bring him down.  Once his adrenaline calmed down, his Stamina
was reduced to -26, which by the Alpha Dawn rules means "barely
salvageable."  (-30 is the limit.)

Urugg gave the Human a staydose to put his body into a temporary state of
suspended animation.  The Human was then revived in the north medcenter.  

Had the Human died, the death probably could have been justified.  But it
would have looked VERY bad for the team.  If nothing else, it would have
alienated them from the general population and perhaps created animosity
among a few citizens.

From:  Layne Saltern (GM)

Clark Valentine wrote:
>[Layne - Does Metrosphere have a computerized surveillance system?  If
so...]

Yes, but you might need to do some asking (or hacking) to get access to it.

Clark Valentine wrote:
>(Layne - will they?  Are there projectors in that part of town?)

There are 2-way holographic communication panels (holo-panels) everywhere
in First Landing.  In a few private areas, you may be denied access to the
holo-panels, but they are still there.  In most public areas, you can
safely assume that the holo-panels are freely accessible.

Two things to remember in reference to the holo-panels.

1.  They are only capable of 2-way communication.  It is impossible to view
a remote area without making your own area visible on the other end.  The
panels were designed this way to prevent their use for eavesdropping.

2.  The holo-panels have fixed locations.  This means that if you use them
to track the cook, you will have to transmit your image from panel to panel
as the cook changes location.

So in a nutshell, if the cook runs through public areas, or places where
the holo-panels allow public access, if Taanik transfers his communication
stream from panel to panel to follow the woman's movement, and if Taanik is
willing to be visible to the woman while id is monitoring her movement,
then the idea is plausible.

From:  Albin Johnson (Syzygy)

I'm sitting at someone else's computer so I don't have access to my mail
per se but Kudos to you for generating a page where I can review at
least the most recent posts to the game! I'm having a ball and it isn't
even my computer!

Anyways, in regards to some things I saw discussed on the 'Early Oct
Posts' section:
----------------------------
If Syzygy is approached by anyone in the law enforcement division about
taking down the crazed human at the protest, he will simply use his
credentials as a team member on special assignment and consult the
police chief for advice on where to get a lawyer :)
---------------------------
I didn't intend on pinning the blame for the holoscreen thing on Taanik
but that's fine with me. Maybe Taanik and I can make good partners!!!
---------------------------
At his first chance, Syzygy will go out of his way to strut in front of
the others, loudly but good-naturedly about being the one to take down
the crazy human and our favorite crazy human, Kare.

Syzygy: "Oh, yeah, T'Klkk....how ya like your programmer now?"

(to Kare): Syzygy is visibly uncomfortable at the idea of having struck
a human female, even a teammate! He'll approach her at the earliest
convenient time.
"Um...Kare? Sorry I slammed you with a tangleround and all. It's just
you humans with your exposed, mucous-membrane visual receptors freak me
out and when I saw yours go RED, well....I dunno it just really flipped
out!"
---------------------------------------
Layne - I didn't see where Syzygy went after the bartender kicked them
out. Did he and Tork go back to HQ? If so, he'll help Taanik with the
surveillance of the fleeing cook (if he needs help). If not, I'll tag
along with him if he wants to check out any other leads.
---------------------------------------

More from Syzygy later, when I can get to MY computer!

Thanks!

- your pal AL

From:  Albin Johnson (Syzygy)

>Layne K. Saltern wrote:
>>
>> >Layne - I didn't see where Syzygy went after the bartender kicked them
>> >out.  Did he and Tork go back to HQ?
>>
>> That's up to you and John G. to decide.
>
>I have a couple things he wants to check out but nothing immediatly pressing.
>Tork runs
>his fingers down his chin, looks at Syzygy with a mischievous smile, and asks
>"What ya
>got in mind?"  :)


Syzygy recognizes the open-ended statement as the typical
'throw-caution-to-the-wind' attitude so atypical of his logical people.
The very attitude he was seeking to learn: method thru madness, order
through chaos.  What was the point of laying out orderly, methodical steps
ALL the time?  Sometimes the shortest distance between two points was in
the opposite direction - at least according to some quantum mechanics
professors he'd met when cleaning out waste bins back at the university.
Funny how no one thinks a Zed is listening - funny what they can say right
in front of him.

But back to the matter at hand!, he thinks to himself.

Syzygy: "Friend Tork: your ability to brawl and carouse is fascinating.  I
must learn more.  Perhaps we can seek out pointless, self-indulgent mating
rituals with the opposite sex like the humans are so prone to do.  Or,
since lock-down makes finding suitable partners difficult, perhaps we can
do something more constructive to the mission...but much more unorthodox."

Syzygy goes over his ideas for investigating the monorail station,
specifically to plant a device to record any activity along the line.  He
also discusses his half-baked plan to rig a bomb somewhere in the city to :

a) test the effectiveness of the police in finding it, giving us an idea as
to their weak links in finding the terrorists

b) create a link back to Syzygy so 'insiders' in the terrorist organization
would more readily believe him a terrorist wanting in if he could describe
the wiring later, etc.

c) cause a distraction for the police that may elicit the terrorists to
strike at any bait we plan on setting out for them, as previously discussed

Finally, Syzygy considers just hanging out, walking the streets on patrol
(or on hovercycle if the police let us) during lockdown to see if we can
spot any terrorist activity at this decidedly ripe time for such activity.


- your pal AL

From:  Dan Biediger (Zane)

Looks like we have quite a few things to think about.
Layne, what kind of screening do visitors to Metrosphere undergo? Is 
there a background check, medical screening, etc.? What I'm getting at 
is, could an infected human just walk right in undetected? 

I just keep thinking that the virus is an accident. If it were intended 
as a distraction or act of terrorism, it would seem that the number of 
cases would be much higher. It could be indicative of something else...

I've been meaning to ask, what was the first infected tech working on? 
It's computer stuff, but would Syzygy know? Kare? Would they be able to 
find out? It might be important.

I'm assuming that the tech is still asleep in T'Klkk's room. Since he was 
the first, I'd like to question him. It seems that the virus blocks out 
memmories durring it's active stage, but he may be able to remember some 
important information, like who infected him.

One other thing is bothering me, If you wanted to take out metrosphere, 
what would you hit.
1. The computer spire
2. The life support system
3. The main power system
We're finding more and more proof of 1. We've already seen 2. Perhaps we 
should head toward the power plants.
One last thing, were the Life support systems tampered with or damaged in 
any way? Is the atmosphere of Metrosphere the same now as when we arrived?

Whew! What do you all think?
Zane

From:  Andy Campbell (Urugg)

>If Urugg brings this up Tork will reply to him..."Perhaps there is a simpler explanation."
>
>If not, Tork will mention this to Syzygy once the riot situation is under control.
>
>"We know how Kare reacted to Red Eye, perhaps Luer had a similar experiance. I think we
>should check the hospitals for any female Yazarians admitted or treated prior to the riots."

Now that I think of it, if one was to become truly paranoid maybe Loer
An-Toer is actually a humanoid robot or cybot, and merely follows orders from
the true leader who remains hidden.  If the "puppet master" was human and
infected, that could explain her / it's absence too.  Talk about "virtual
leadership" ; )

From:  John Groszkiewicz (Tork)

Albin Johnson wrote:
>
>>Tork runs his fingers down his chin, looks at Syzygy with a mischievous smile, and asks
>>"What ya got in mind?"  :)
>
>Syzygy recognizes the open-ended statement as the typical
>'throw-caution-to-the-wind' attitude so atypical of his logical people.
>The very attitude he was seeking to learn: method thru madness, order
>through chaos.  What was the point of laying out orderly, methodical steps
>ALL the time?

Tork thinks back to his military training...  If you know your foe's plans you have
already defeated them.  Sometimes the unexpected is the best course of action.

>Syzygy goes over his ideas for investigating the monorail station,
>specifically to plant a device to record any activity along the line.  He

Tork would agree that this is a good idea but expresses doubt that it will turn much up.
The explosions he has investigated seem to indicate the the intruders are coming in
from outside the city.  But then again...they could be getting off and going back around
outside instead of entering the rest of the city.

>also discusses his half-baked plan to rig a bomb somewhere in the city to

Tork is against this plan.  So far the "terrorists" have done minimal damage, their main
targets seems to be supply gathering.

>a) test the effectiveness of the police in finding it, giving us an idea as
>to their weak links in finding the terrorists

The police probably have their hands full trying to track down 'Rage' carriers.  If the
enRaged rioters would have attacked the life support systems instead of the team...
Tork feels that at the moment stopping the epidemic is more important then testing the
cops.

>b) create a link back to Syzygy so 'insiders' in the terrorist organization
>would more readily believe him a terrorist wanting in if he could describe
>the wiring later, etc.

I think we are dealing with more of a criminal element then a terrorist group.
Terrorists inflict terror - they make demands and then blow things up in an attempt to
get their way.  These people seem to be blowing things up so they can get at something.

>c) cause a distraction for the police that may elicit the terrorists to
>strike at any bait we plan on setting out for them, as previously discussed

Or they may strike out at us as someone hoarding in on 'their turf'.

>Finally, Syzygy considers just hanging out, walking the streets on patrol
>(or on hovercycle if the police let us) during lockdown to see if we can
>spot any terrorist activity at this decidedly ripe time for such activity.

With the lock-down the streets are probably quiet to the point of being eriee.  Tork
would welcome this opportunity to check out the town without the bustle of civilians.
Anyone we run into is a cell, er.. Team-mate, law enforcement personal, or a law
breaker.  While wondering Tork would prefer to stay in the southern section of the first
level - that is where most of the attacks have occured.

Tork would also like to check out a couple other things.  How long would it take to walk
from the sites of the explosions to the monorail station - IF we walked around the
outside of the city.   Does the Metrosphere have any external cameras or sensors that
would detect someone walking outside the domes?  And lastly, Tork would not mind taking
a walk outside.

Just a quick question: Do the life support systems have their own power souce or at
least a backup?  Just wondering if the power system is taken out will the life support
continue to function.

TTFN
John                                 johngroz@ncinter.net

GM Reply:
The life support centers have sufficient backup power to operate
autonomously for over a month.  In addition, the two life support buildings
are redundant.  If one were knocked out, the other would be fully capable of
supporting the city's needs.

From:  Layne Saltern (GM)

Dan Biediger said:
>Layne, what kind of screening do visitors to Metrosphere undergo? Is
>there a background check, medical screening, etc.? What I'm getting at
>is, could an infected human just walk right in undetected?

A standard physical examination is required.  This does not, however,
eliminate 2 possibilities:

1.  An infected person might find some way of sneaking in without the examination
2.  The examination might not have been performed correctly or thoroughly --
with thousands and thousands of people coming in all the time, it's possible


Dan Biediger said:
>I'm assuming that the tech is still asleep in T'Klkk's room.

Correct.


Dan Biediger said:
>One last thing, were the Life support systems tampered with or damaged in
>any way?  Is the atmosphere of Metrosphere the same now as when we arrived?


Nothing to this effect has been reported.  Beyond this, you would have to
look into it.


John Groszkiewicz said:
>Does Kare remember any of her Rage induced attack?

Very very little.  About as much as a dream you had during the night that
escapes your conscious memory.

From:  John Groszkiewicz (Tork)

John W Whitfield wrote:
> 
> "Without a doubt, Teammate Tork. While I am certainly no diplomat, I would be
> glad to join you in talking with our teammate. Since you are the one who
> discovered this information and Teammate Kare will be responding to what you
> have discovered about her past involvement, I would offer myself as mediator
> so that both you and Kare have an opportunity to express yourselves and be
> heard by the other. We can then decide if we need to bring any of this before
> the rest of the cell...er...team. In Vrusk society we have a very complicated
> set of guidelines, rituals, and procedures for dealing with difficult
> situations such as this, but I don't think that they would be useful to us
> since Syzygy and I are the only Vrusks in the group, and he seems to be less
> familiar with many Vrusk customs that I grew up with."
> 

Tork smiles to himself and thinks 'For not being a diplomat this Vrusk is long on words. 
This defiantly differs from the short answers he is use to from his own people.'

Tork then replys "The Yazarians also have 'guidelines' for dealing with disputes. 
However, if not settled quickly many times disputes degrade into fighting. Our team is 
facing an many unknown enemy, there will be enough fighting without us fighting amoungst 
ourselves."

> > Tork will talk to Kare with or without T'Klkk along. When Tork talks to Kare, he will
> > toss a report to her entitled "Gypsie Moon Corporation". He will give Kare enough time
> > to read the title and ask "Ever hear of them?"
> 
> Definitely with T'Klkk.
> 
> As mentioned, T'Klkk will try her hardest to be an impartial mediator. She
> will encourage both parties to state their point of view, only intervening if
> the situation seems to be getting too volatile. If this happens, she will
> suggest that everyone take a deep breath, wait a couple of minutes, and then
> try to start the discussion again. If Kare and Tork are becoming obviously at
> odds with one another, T'Klkk will summarize each party's comments/point of
> view and then try to calm the conflict.

I am hoping this situation can be resolved with out violance but if the "hairless one" 
starts something.... ;)

> T'Klkk will be interested in learning about the report that Tork throws down
> in front of Kare. She will also want to know where Tork got his information.

Well, I kind of, um, ... Okay, quit twisting my arm... I read Kare's background page 
and followed the link to the "Blackjack and Kare" story. Drat - so much for my "secret" 
source. ;)

> Likewise, she will want to know what Kare has to say. She will make it very
> clear going into all of this that her main goal is to gather information and
> not jump to conclusions of judgements.

Tork had plenty of time to jump to conclusions - he wants to bring this up to allow Kare 
a chance to respond.

> If Kare is indeed involved covertly with any of the subversion going on,
> T'Klkk will be merciless in handing her over to the authorities with all of
> the information that we have available to us. If Kare is indeed innocent,
> T'Klkk will be a vocal advocate for supporting and trusting her, defending
> Kare against any who would have objections to her based on past involvements.

Tork was more worried about Kare doing something that would allow the sabatours to get 
away. I never thought about the possiblity of her being in on it. That would definatly 
be a BAD thing.

> Hopefully none of this will come to fisticuffs. If it does, T'Klkk's goal
> will be to bring order to the situation as quickly as possible and with as
> little damage as possible to all parties involved.

"AW, but Mom. We were only playing".... HA HA HA ... Anyone out there ever use this 
on their parents? Nope, nope, nope, never me. 

> As far as how to involve the rest of the team, it is hard to say until I see
> how this plays out.
> 
> Wow!! Things are REALLY getting interesting!

I totally agree!!

TTFN
John johngroz@ncinter.net

From:  Clark Valentine (Taanik)

>Taanik (the team 
>Robotics expert) will suggest to Syzygy and Kare 
>(the other two techies) that they check out those 
>robotic mining and transport vehicles

By "they" I meant all three - Kare, Syzygy, and Taanik. If Syzygy is
all in one piece, that is. If Syzygy finds himself in trouble and needs
help, Taanik will drop everything to ride to the rescue (humming an old
west US cavalry charge bugle call ;-). Somebody with psyche skills
should have a little talk with our Vruskan friend, don't you think?
Zane? Urugg? Hmmm?

Then again I like my friends a little looney - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
;-)

Actually, it might be a good idea for the group (especially Syzygy) to
get out and (in Taanik's best Sinbad the comedian voice) par-tayh a
little, once the lockdown is over. We could all stand to unwind a bit
with the intoxicant of our choice*. ;-) ;-) ;-) I could commiserate
with Syzygy about our luck with females. Okay so there aren't any
female Drals, but oh well.

Taanik also wants to raise his beam weapons skill by 1 level if
possible. But not while partying. Bad idea. "Shooting under the
influence of steam" would not look good on my record. ;-)



*Disclaimer: Taanik and Clark Valentine say "Drink (or soak in spiked
steam) responsibly. Know when to say when."