" Well in that case, ...I volunteer Johnny!" Copper says, seconding the motion. He smiled, proud that he was able to show his loyalty with volunteering.

Johnny smiles and puts his weapon away. He walks around the room with his empty hand outstretched, trying to shake hands with every clone, mutant and robot in the room.

"Remember, not shaking hands with volunteers when they volunteer is treason."

Vilfred shakes Johnny's hand, nodding solemnly. "Thank you for volunteering," she says. "I'll remember that next time we need a volunteer."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Fri 31 Oct 2014.

Everything goes to chaos...

Rob attempts to infect everyone with enthusiasm but fails miserably to complete this task.

Fletch fires at Rob, but nothing happens.  He claims his weapon has malfunctioned, which is something for the equipment guy to check out, and admits he is not good at weapon maintenance.

Vilfred asks Fletch to get on the table for Gene to examine him, and her oratory and management skills are put to full use.  (Critical hit.)  Fletch does as requested, unable to refuse the leadership skills of Vilfred, the Team Leader, despite his initial protests.  Fletch is now on the lab table.

People still have laser pistols pointed at each other except for Johnny, who is trying to shake everyone's hand.

The computer still flashes the following:


EXPERIMENT RESUMED

LAB 5 QUARANTINED UNTIL COMPLETION OF EXPERIMENT

PLACE SPECIMEN 58483901 ONTO LABORATORY TABLE

NO SPECIMEN DETECTED

REPLACE WITH ALTERNATE SPECIMEN:  [YES/NO]

ABORT EXPERIMENT?  [YES/NO]
 Aborting Experiment Will Result In Complete Incendiary Decontamination of Lab, Resulting In Your Demise and Demerits For Your Next Clone.
 

"Our team leader has spoken and Fletch is on the table.  It is time to resume.  We must see what traitorous actions EVE is up to, and that means we have to see what this experiment does.  Otherwise, we cannot accurately report to the COmputer our duties as Troubleshooters."  Mark pushes the REPLACE WITH ALTERNATE SPECIMEN button.

Helping the volunteer onto the lab table, Copper makes it a point for the multicorder to catch his solemn handshake of appreciation. This footage was going to worth ten times its weight in credits once he had it all edited and ready for production in HRD. He pulls a can of Extra Classic Bouncy Bubble Beverage from his pack and offers it to Johnny, " One last belch before you go under the machine?" he asks, popping the tab on the self-chilling beverage that is the favorite of Infra and Ultra alike.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:50, Fri 31 Oct 2014.

When the "alternate specimen" is selected, robotic parts and arms immediately swing out from under the table, clamping Fletch down in place.  His legs and arms are now locked in place, with a metal bar also locking down his waist and head.  Bright hospital lights shine down from above as a large metal box begins unfolding itself and spreading to cover Fletch from head to toe, like a giant, upside down, high tech coffin.  When Fletch is fully covered except his head, hands and feet, lights beep on the outsides of the box to indicate progress of the experiment.  It currently states "0%."

Next, the computer display changes to state the following:


Please indicate desired percentage for survival of experiment subject:

__ __ % <ENTER>

_{Note that your subject cannot have an expected survival rate greater than 99%.  Please indicate a number from 01% to 99%.}

You also note that there are only two digits that can be typed into the screen.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:34, Fri 31 Oct 2014.

Johnny is still trying to shake hands with all the people and robots in the room, but isn't really  paying attention to what he is doing... His head is turned watching the machine with great interest.

"As Loyalty Officer, I should warn you that taking unnecessary risks could be treason. 51% likelyhood of survival is acceptably non-treasonous ."

Fletch is developing serious doubts about this course of action. Vilfred's words have made excellent sense - a moment ago. Now he is not so sure anymore.

''Uh, waitaminute...''

" Aww, c'mon, ...Fletch is valuable member of our team! You should tack on another twenty percent just for that." Copper adds, still holding the opened can of Bouncy Bubble Beverage out to the poor clone laying on the table. " Here," he says to Fletch, " Have a BBB. It'll help calm you down."

Well I think that the higher his chances of survival the happier we would all be." Rob said with a huge smile.

Mark shrugs. "He's got a clone.  Is it more important that he survive or that we find out what the traitorous EVE is experimenting with back here? I say we set it to 33%."

Gene looks to Vilfred to push the buttons. "I don't care what it is set to, so long as it won't interfere with everyone's hygienic responsibilities.  They say that mutants are 44% less hygienic than non-mutants anyway."

Yes but Fletch is not a mutant. Unless of course you have something you want to share with the team Gene.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:45, Mon 03 Nov 2014.

"Let's go 80-90%," Vilfred says. "If that box does what I think it does, anything less could be more dangerous for us, as well as for Fletch."

Gene pushes 80%, stating to Rob, "Uh, no, what I meant was that he is likely to me more hygienic than a mutant like our registered mutant.  Yeah, that's what I meant."

"Well done everyone.  A very loyal and non-treasonous decisions."

Johnny is still trying to shake hands with the other troubleshooters, but tired of being left hanging, he settles for shaking the guide robot's hand instead.

After 80% is entered into the computer terminal, the following text appears:


You have entered 100% - 80% = 20% survival rate.

Chance of project success will be diminished by specimen screaming.  Please ensure specimen does not scream during the process.


At that, the screen above the device over Fletch's body comes on, stating the following:


Performing diagnostics...

This then goes from 0% to 100%.  Next, it reads:

Assessing viability of specimen...

The progress bar then goes from 0% to 100%.  Then it begins flashing red:

ERROR 403

The main computer flashes the following:

ERROR 403 REPORTED.

Error 403 indicates that a mutation was found on the test subject.

Please note that according to experiment guidelines, specimens with mutations will cause failure of the experiment.

Please replace specimen with non-mutation substitute.

Has specimen been replaced?  [YES/NO]


The device uncouples and detaches from Fletch, allowing him to get off the table, though the device still waits there for a new, non-mutant specimen to be placed on the table.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:15, Mon 03 Nov 2014.

" Mutant huh?", Copper comments with a snicker. He turns his multicorder on Gene to catch his reaction as he adds, " Well, looks like a job for Gene the Clean!" Gene has been against mutations from the start, so he was obviously pure in his genetic formation.

Gene raises an eyebrow.  "Of course, a registered mutant will say that.  Everyone else should be mutation free.  I, of course, cannot volunteer at the moment because I must perform a PST on Fletch to make sure he is not bringing any contaminants from that machine."  Gene pulls out his  PHTCMK kit.  "This is also a situation calling for Emergency Sanitation Procedures on Fletch.  That is the only way we can make sure Fletch is not the cause of a mission disaster.  Only a traitor would ask me to volunteer during an emergency like this."  Gene goes over to perform the PST and ESP on Fletch.

"Hey Cop, get a shot of me shooting this unregistered mutant. Make certain you get my good side."

Rob says as he begins to strike a pose while pointing his laser at Fletch.

"Let me know when everything is set up right. Who knows when we may get a chance to spread happyness via vid shows with a shot like this again."

Mark jumps in.  "Are we sure this device is even trustworthy?  We are just pushing random buttons on some machines and stating that it is in service to the Computer.  If you trust what this computer is saying, then you are trusting what EVE is saying, which means you are trusting The Computer's enemy, which says Fletch is a mutant, over The Computer itself, which surely would not have allowed Fletch to become a troubleshooter without registering any mutations.  I say we do not trust this machine, and Rob is obviously a traitor for trying to believe what the enemy of The Computer is telling us.  This whole experiment is a setup to get non-mutant Troubleshooters to kill each other, and that will only make EVE the victor."

He points his laser pistol at Rob while pushing the "NO" button on the computer.

Copper does indeed pan over and frame Rob into the shot, dropping the tripod for a truly heroic look up at the hero performing his duty to The Computer. Marks speech adds a wonderful narration and Cop cannot help but comment on the correlation. " Mark has a really good point. EVE is an unregistered anomaly, just as Fletch here is an unregistered mutant. Variables like this can be harmful to the system and must be terminated with extreme prejudice." he says before popping up from behind the view finder to address Fletch, " Sorry mutant citizen, you should've registered that anomaly before joining up."

Mark says, "If what you say is true, then that is correct.  But my point was that believing Fletch is an actual mutant means that you are believing EVE, the so-called anomaly.  And if you begin getting brainwashed by EVE, then you are the traitor."

He turns his gun on Copper.  "Are you trying to get us to believe EVE is telling the truth and not The Computer?  Either The Computer is right and Fletch is not a mutant, or EVE is right and he is.  I choose to believe The Computer would not make such an error."

Seizing the moment and doing his best to look good in the camera Rob fires at Fletch.