X begins to have his shoulder bandaged.  "I'll tell you what it is.  You must have forgotten the letter Sam left for Binary.  At least four programmers have left the Matrix, including Sam.  As he said in the letter, they're near the Eastern Rim of Oxland 2.  That's near an Exit Field where they must have left the Matrix.  Because of our little 'expedition,' the machines probably know about them too.  So whether they live or die pretty much depends on who gets to them first."

Locke steps in slowly.  "X is right.  These are high priority assets.  They know more about programming in the Matrix than anyone, even Binary, since they were working on programs after he left.  Zero-One will want them destroyed.  We need them in Zion."

"Assuming they're still alive," X says.

Locke responds slowly, "I believe they are.  If there's any hope--"

"If there's any hope, we risk our lives," X says, then drops his head when Locke shoots him a sharp glare.  "Sorry," he says.  "You're right, of course."

"We can probably find their heat signatures," Locke says.  "But the fields are dangerous."

"Crawling with calamari," X adds.

Locke nods.  "Unfortunately, this last mission was a complete failure."  He points to the dead corpses of your friends and nearly chokes up in tears.

"FUBAR," X says.

"Not that I can blame any of you," Locke says.  "Since you are still rookies.  But someone back at Zion will have to answer for this.  We have too few in the real world to risk any lives.  But there's no one else in the vicinity for this next task.  I'm going to have to depend on you again.  And please watch each other's backs.  I don't want any more dead."

"Actually," X corrects, "we did get the contents of one of those CD's uploaded, so it wasn't a complete failure.  I'll begin the decoding process."

"I think we paid too high a price," Locke responds.  He turns slowly to walk back into the control room.  "I wish someone had thought to hide those disks.  They will surely fall into the hands of Zero-One now."

You begin to remember the letter Sam left for Binary:

Mike,  [Binary's first name.]

If you're reading this, then things have gone to hell like I predicted but you've managed to come back.  And you remembered where I hid the secret stuff.  A few months ago, some new NSA agents were assigned to the project, but they were very standoffish.  And just a little too curious.  Several of us programmers were suspicious from the get go.  Especially because they appeared to be communicating with someone outside the complex, using earphones attached with a wire--not typical down here, even for those PIG gooks.  And they used commonplace or movie names instead of real names.  Real strange.  Agent Eastwood, Agent Jones, Agent Skywalker, and the like.  There was something just not quite right about them.  We just called them the Agents.  They made us nervous.

Then the order came.  All computer software and hardware was to be destroyed.  Anything to do with our investigation and experiments regarding the Matrix.  The military moved in.  I think they might blow this place soon.

You won't find any digital copies of anything anymore.  Except that I made a couple of secret copies of key projects and downloads.  To keep them safe, I taped them in an envelope and put them on the bottom side of your desk drawer.  Since you're gone, your office is actually a safe place to hide things.  You need to get that critical information and upload it out of here.  To somewhere where they can't erase it.  It's our life work, Mike.  Don't let them destroy it.  After you left, we were working on things you won't even believe.  Such advances, and many of them without the need to leave the Matrix at all.

Three programmers have done like you and left the Matrix.  As soon as I write this letter, I'll be joining them.  I have the pill.  We've lost other programmers.  They just disappeared.  I don't know if they fled or were killed.  But I know they'll be hunted.  We all will.  I hope you can find them first.  They are:  Jonathan Price, Yusaku Kamakura, Ted Chung, Anthony Miller, Tony Hawkins, Jean luc Marx, Francis Capanelli, Elle Draney, Carey Ann Ross, and Thomas Anderson.  As you know, they're our best.  The most involved.  The names the machines fear the most.

I hope you've found that Zion you talked about.  I hope there's something out there.  Resistance from inside the Matrix is futile.  Fake.

If you get this, look for me at the Eastern Rim of Oxland 2.  If I can't find anyone when I get out of here, I'll hole up there and pray you find me.

Good luck,
Sam

This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Sat 31 July 2004.

NOTE TO PLAYERS:
The first adventure is concluded.  I hope you enjoyed it.

I am leaving the country for two weeks.  I will have intermittent access to the Internet and will post when I can to progress this next mission.  Please feel free to also have your characters converse amongst themselves on the Hyperion.  They can introduce themselves more fully and describe their background and special attributes as the Hyperion flies toward its destination.  We can assume that they are all newly assigned to the ship and don't know each other very well.

Also, please spend your character points and codebreaker points to purchase the skills you want your characters to have (although they will not apply in the "real world").  If you have not done so already, now is a good time to review the codebreaker skills and think of a model of progression and types of skills you will want your character to develop over time.

Below, you will find in PM's your CP's and CBP's to spend (everyone receives 15 CBP this time).  Keep in mind the new application of the Focus skill and how fatigue will work.  Matrix Fatigue is a special fatigue separate from the GURPS fatigue (both are used, but they are separate items, so purchasing high fatigue in GURPS will not increase your Matrix Fatigue).

Laz looks around at the rest of the crew, they had done well but not well enough. His gaze was now on Twitch, a look of guilt clearly on his face. He had seen Twitch as a more casual version of himself and that had cost him his life.

Roach busied himself cleaning up the technocolour yell he had left on the floor.

Mitose's eyes follow Lazarus' and he too falls silent at the sight fo Twitch.  That could just as easily be his own mind-dead corpse.  He shook his head, and reached into his pocket for a string of beads.  Mitose wove them into Twitc's hand, and then stepped away, saying nothing.

His eyes rose to the cockpit of the Hyperion, and then with a nod to the others, he moves forward to confer with the officers.

"Any idea what we can expect?  I know this is a person extraction, but...we can't really do that without pinpointing there real location, right?"

"Depending on when that note was written those programmers could have escaped from the matrix long ago.  The surface is hardly a hospitable landscape for a bunch of scientists.  What are the odds that we will find them alive?"

"We can get close," X says.  "And it isn't like there are a lot of people down there in the real world.  Our primary concern is avoiding detection by the machines.  We'll pull up to the building or whatever as close as we can, and then you guys can swarm in and bring them out alive."

[Sorry about the delays.  Still out of the country with not much internet access.  Things will return to normal on Monday.  I promise!]

"Swarm?" asks Fault, stepping into the room. He shoots a pointed glance at the line of bodies on the floor. "Isn't our head-count a bit low to by attempting human-wave tactics?"

Laz takes a quick look at the new voice, he had noticied him before and presumed he was back up for them in the last mission, it seemed he was part of the team now.

Mitose turns to Fault, accepting him with a slight nod of his head, "Perhaps it was a turn of phrase, and not a statement of tactics."

He smiles slightly, "Though, it will require that several of us, armed with the rifles, to cover a real worl run like this...especially if any mechanicals catch our scent or our sounds."

Lot shakes his head in a negative.  "No rifle is going to save us if we get spotted by squiddies.  This mission is going to be more about speed than anything else. Its just a matter of time before we are detected. We should minimize the amount of time that we are in danger rather than waste too much time on stealth, once we are out of the ship that is.  I imagine its the IR scanners that we need to worry about, not scent or sound."

"If you want, you can each take an EM Rifle with you.  That's about the only thing that'll stop the squids.  If I know Locke, he won't surface until he's almost directly underneath those researchers."

Laz shakes his head. "I'm not thrilled but we don't have any other choice."

The Hyperion is moving swiftly through the underground tunnels.  The hum of the engines is restful after your frightful experience, but it is louder than usual because of the gaping hole in the ceiling where the Sentinel broke through.

In the computer room are Lot, Mitose, Fault, Lazarus, Roach, Viper, Jade and X.  Hammer moves off to take care of engineering issues after the attack.

X calls in Slammer, the ship's resident medic, to "ice up" those who died in the Matrix in case there is any future way to revive them.  Grid and Binary are hauled out last, and then X turns to all of you.

"I don't know what Locke has planned, but I want to make sure you're as equipped as possible when you go down there.  Unfortunately, our real world equipment is scarce.  Follow me."

He leads you down a corridor and into the small exit room.  As you squeeze in, X opens a couple of lockers.

"We've got enough EM Rifles for everyone to take one," he says.  Pulling out a satchel, he continues, "In here are a dozen flares and some ordnance with timed charges.  Just in case.  We also have the following:

1 flare gun with 3 flares
2 coils of 50 foot rope
2 extra Walkie Talkies to communicate with the Hyperion
A fireproof blanket
2 archaic pistols with 17 rounds each (Taurus PT-945 ACP .45 handguns) (2 magazines plus one in chamber)
1 Sako TRG-41 (Sniper Rifle) with 2 magazines (10 shots plus one in chamber)
1 Benelli Super 90  M3 12g (Shotgun with pistol grip) with 1 magazine (7 shots plus one in chamber)
1 LAW 80 94 mm (Rocket Launcher) with 2 rockets
Military Issue Bowie Knives (enough for all)
2 machetes

If you have any other needs, maybe we can scrounge something up."

Laz scans the equipment and takes one coil of rope, one of the walkie talkies, one of the handguns, the blanket, and a bowieknife. He starts to wrap everything up into the blanket, slings the emp across his chest and smiles at his companions. "I always wondered what fresh calamari tasted like."

"Stainless steel," X replies with a grin.

 Fault shakes his head as he retrieves a handgun and slips it into the waistband of his trousers. "Fat lot of good a .45 will do against steel-skin." He smiles morbidly as he pockets a magazine. "Oh well, at least if we die out here, we're spared the indignity of becoming pop-cicles."
  Picking up a machete he turns to the gathered bodies. "Freezing traps the soul in the corpse y'know - like mummification," he says matter-of-factly to Slammer.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:04, Wed 18 Aug 2004.

Jade says, "Take the whole satchel.  We may need it."  She slings an EM rifle and the LAW 80 over her shoulders and sheathes a knife around her thigh.

Mitose hefts an EM rifle, "This was what I meant by 'rifles'.  I am well aware of the kind of foe we face...and if I my talk of 'sight and smell' was a turn of phrase.  This seems to be a literal bunch." He smiles slightly.

He arms himself additionally with a knife and a machete, and the other coil of rope, and rolls up the fireproof blanket after a moment, strapping it across his shoulders. "If we are alert, and swift, hopefully all we will need is EM cover fire."

"What weapons do you guys want?" X says to Lot and Viper, looking over his shoulder.  "Looks like we're getting close."

"Well, I guess I'm taking an EM Rifle, this machete, this handgun and a magazine for it." Fault grins. "I'll save the useful weapons for those who know how to use them."

X says, "That leaves the sniper rifle and shotgun."  He holds them out for Viper and Lot to choose from.

"I never was much of a stand-off guy," Viper grins as he grabs the shotgun. He slings it over his shoulder and adds a knife and EM Rifle to his toys. He busies himself with checking over the EM Rifle's charge, absently asking X, "We got an ETA yet?"