You whip around in the wild dream of being a soccer ball, and finally a whistle is blown, and there is a pause.  The concrete floor is  hard under your head.

And you realize that this is reality. You are laying on concrete. You did hear a whistle, but its of a cold wind shrieking its fury, and grabbing at your cloak and fluttering it with aggressive fingers.

You can feel as well the presence of multiple sources of familiarity that feel like Mike's presence.

And then you hear the deliberate ka-chunk of a shotgun being pumped, and a steel-cold voice from above you.

"What comes after these words: I pledge allegiance to...."

PT

No symbology.  Or very little.  Did that mean that the scriff was annoyed? Or did it mean that it was simply not trying to communicating to him because he was directing it? He did know that in a lucid dream, the dream often came apart or became less real when he BENT the thing too hard.  Not that he cared.  It had been a moment of pride when he'd beaten the hell out of Freddy Krouger, and he had spent entire mornings on rare occasions just going back to sleep over and over again to get it right.  He could be a right stubborn bastard.  But dreams were a reflection of reality....er...sort of.  He was never quite sure, but he also had learned from hard experience to avoid doing anything a dream suggested until after he'd been awake long enough to clear his head, even when he remembered what it was.  Daylight filters of reason and sanity were there for a reason.  Dreams had great power and wisdom, and from time to time he'd learned from them...but better to filter them through common sense and the temperance of inner fire.

The analytic thoughts in the back of his mind identified the fact that it was cold, that it was a world capable of making concrete, that they had fireams and they wanted him to say the pledge of allegiance.  He felt Mike's presence, but did not recognize the voice asking him questions as Mike's voice.  Their choice of words indicated that they were more than likely in a conflict of ideology, and that this was a mirror world of some kind.  Of course, in an infinitude of timelines, it could very well be the pledge of allegeciance to the United States of Germany against Nazi America....but the fact that he was asking in English was a dead give away.  He didn't know enough to filter the truth for an answer, and the very fact that they were asking in the way they did meant that he had to choose his words very carefully.  In fact...

Aw screw it.  If he died, he died.

"the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for Which is Stands, one Nation, Under God, Indivisible, With Libery and Justice For All."

A perverse part of him had been sorely tempted to answer that, "The United States of Mars" but he was looking for answers...and Mike was here...so...why annoy the Scriff?

There is a sound of a hammer being slowly let down, and a hand fits in your own as the man helps you to your feet.

"Welcome to the Hunting Lodge, verser."

You see a heliport, with you on the farthermost end of it with drops of a thousand and more feet to your right and left that drop down to sheer mountainsides.  In front of you is a beefy man with a lined face, and receding hair who has a sawed-off shotgun on his shoulder, and a USA flag patch on his right shoulder.

Behind him is a huge log cabin type 'hunting lodge' that must have at least six thousand square feet.  But it merges well back into the mountainside behind it.  All about you, at eye level are white-capped mountains.

The air is thin, and cold.

"You're now a guest of Paul Burlington, God rest his soul.  My name is Kenneth.  I'm the hunting guide, and general man about the house.  I've been told enough times, and seen it enough to believe it, but the others say you come from a different timeline than me, and that still bothers me.  Different histories.  Do the words 'National Socialist', 'Pacific Ocean Propsperity Zone', 'Warlord Yamamoto', or 'Concentration Camp' mean anything to you?  By the way, the year is 1949 Anno Domini, and its May the 18th."

PT

The Man from Highcastle. Warlord Yamamoto indicated that Yamamoto did not die in the Solomon Islands by ambush and lived. Pacific instead of Asian prosperity sphere indicated that the Japanese probably occupied California.  Multiple versers indicated a potential institution of such, which indicated that this 'hunting lodge' was anything but.  His qualification of allegiance to the flag indicates this is a location for multiple versers to appear, which may also mean the opposite side has them as well, ergo stalemate loss.  The wrong verser in the wrong hands of Germany could tilt technology, magic or worse thus causing the war to be lost.

"Yes. I'm familiar with those terms, or a varient of them.  Hmm...well, I guess I'll ask the obvious question first.  How much, if any, of the USA is left? Who has the bomb? Does the Axis have Versers on their side as well? How many versers are currently working for the Allies...or US if we're the only one left?"

"The Rocky Mountains are a Demilitarized Zone between the Empire of Japan and the Germanic Reich.  Here, the last free Americans, except for some rumored to be hiding in the Amazon live.  Germany and Russia and Japan all have atomic fission devices.  We have had the Axis have one verser on their side, but we stopped him before he could escape.  After that, we instituted the Pledge Test.  I think we have five, counting you, right now.  Right now, the Walking Man, and Mariko are in the Lodge.  The others are gone on missions.  Allies? I'm not sure what you mean by this term."

You hear the scream of a hunting eagle from below you as you ponder his words.

PT

Tom tries to think of various questions, and while he has a lot of them, for now he decides that less is more.  He isn't sure of much about these people except that he wants to make a positive impression.  "I'd be very interested in a tour of the place."

Your guide nods, and shows you about.

There is a heliport hanging out over the edge of the mountain.  To the right is a small hanger which currently holds a Huey type copter, a glider plane, and a matte black hanglider with carbon framing, and when you step closer to it, you hear.

"If the honorable person will please step back. Please step back, or I will inform my owner."

You step back, I assume.

To the left of the heliport is a gravel road with plentiful switchbacks, and a US Army Jeep at its top.  The jeep is armed with a .50 cal. machine gun.

The front porch of the lodge is massive, perhaps two thousand square feet.  You see a shuffleboard game set up.  A set of parrallel bars, weights, and other gymnastic equipment takes up the other side of the porch.

You see an intense young man, slab-side face, gleaming eyes, and jutting hair trying to work on a 'horse'.  He's not all that good at it, but what makes it worse, is he's apparently trying to read a book set up on a stand by the horse at the same time.

He looks very fit, and rough-edged.

"That's John Walker, aka The Walking Man."

PT

"Thanks." Tom introduces himself to both, "Pleased to meet you. My name is Tom Day.  I'm a verser but still relatively new at it.  I've been to three worlds, this one is my fourth.  I guess my first question is....what is the arrangement here? I'm willing to help, but I'd like to know if any of the versers is in charge..is there some kind of resistance?"

(This is the part where normally I'd ask a million questions about the situation, but especially when dealing with an unknown Verser, Tom is going to be VERY paranoid, courteous and careful. 'An armed society is a polite society'-Heinlein.  You could pick up a nuke the size of a quarter on the right world....)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:21, Sat 18 Nov 2006.

John Walker slips off the 'horse', and thinks for a second.

"Its pretty much catch as catch can.  We all pursue our own goals. You see each verser is so unique that some sort of general strategy other than 'go forth and damage the enemy' would be a waste.  My efforts other than training, and study of the scriff focus on deep strikes into the German Reich where I can destroy critical war industries.  I try to figure out bottlenecks, and jam them up good.  My best trick was when I got the only ball bearing factory west of the Missisippi to modify its bearing size by a fraction of a millimeter.  All of a sudden new tanks and airplanes were seizing up left and right."

Kenneth grunts.
"I'm the one that handles contact with the local Resistance. And they can put you in contact with other groups further east or west as it is.  Near us, but outside the DMZ there isn't much because the population is so thin on the ground.  And in the DMZ the Lodge is the ranking cell."

John nods.  "Now Mariko on the other hand, she goes out and cuts the throats of Japanese officers the rank of colonel and higher while they are sleeping in their beds."

PT

Tom ponders several moments, "Do you have a compilation of records and such that can be studied? That might help my...decisions regarding that aspect of thing.  Actually, if you're researching, you're probably more qualified than I am.  Perhaps we can help each other.  I asked the Scriff to bring me here, specifically so I could learn more Verser Lore...particularly the cosmology and metaphysics from one universe to another....I might have two things that could be useful to you; specifically telemetry and sensor data of myself as I died last time, since they were kind enough to analyze the data on myself while healthy and when dying...it might be somewhat useful if you're studying scriff.  I also aquired something in the last world called the 'Sky Equation' which is essentially the ultimate sociological engineering equation....I imagine it could be extremely helpful to you in winning the war.  I'd offer to use my computer for decryption, but given the talking glider outside....I rather suspect that's an area already being worked on.  I'm afraid I'm new enough at this that I'm not immediately sure how I'll be able to help besides what I brought, but as I analyze the situation, I might be able to think of something.

I also...somehow...sense...that Mike is here....what is he doing? I've met him before...do Versers regularly appear in the same place like that, or is their a machine or spell or something that is collecting them here?"

While we're at it...Tom will closely analyze his movements and his senses....does he still feel Ascended or did that go away when he died?

Kenneth says they have some, including a "Verser Guestbook", but to please understand, they are in a war, and accurate recordkeeping fell by the wayside.

John Walker nods.  "I have some theories, picked up from a few other versers, and from my own study.  I also have a small bit of liquid scriff in a sealed container which I extracted from my own blood with a centrifuge."  He shrugs.  "I'll be very glad to look at your data, and copy it to my laptop if I can, but just keep in mind that my last bit of school was high school.  I've been in eleven worlds since then, but I haven't picked up any physics or biology which is what I'm beginning to think we need."

Kenneth grins when you mention the talking glider.  "Actually Mariko is as she says 'a streetkid from NeoTokyo', but yes, we are able to read the mail of any radio transmission we can detect."

"Mike?" John says with a blank look on his face. "Who's that?"

"Are you talking about Michael Di Vars or Marcoe?" Kenneth asks.  It turns out that Di Vars was here several years ago.  OOC: I'm sorry if I confused you. Any verser feels the same.  So since your comparison point was Mike....

Your question gets John to go get a pile of paper.  He shows you several theories as to why versers keep appearing at the end of the heliport.  One is that there is a 'weakness in the worldwalls'.  Another is that versers leak a small amount of scriff when they arrive, and since we know that scriff has some sort of attractive or vibrational sympathy or something since we can detect each other, then perhaps there is a 'scriff spot' at the end of the heliport and people land there because its like a magnet.

Then John pauses as he obviously feels its his turn to ask questions.

He gets out a sheet of paper with fixed questions on it.

The first question is what is your theory of the Multiverse.

PT

To Kenneth, "I'd love to read this Verser Guestbook.  And I understand records can go by the wayside in a war, but the germans were also notorious record keepers.  Newspapers in archive alone would be extremely helpful."

To John Walker: "You can solidify Scriff? That's fascinating.  I have a bachelor's degree in genetics, so I know some lab techniques, though a craftsman is often only as good as his tools, most of which I imagine you don't have. What can you tell me about its observed properties? Physical I mean? Does it actually make appliances work better?  Does it do anything to a verser?"

In answer to 'who'se mike' "Michael De Vries.  I sensed his presence when I arrived." OOC: Tom doesn't know any verser feels the same.  :) He's only met one.

Regarding his theory of the Multiverse, "Honestly? I don't know.  I can't make an accurate theory with only four universe's under my belt, though after talking to you and the other Versers I might be able to gather more data.  The more anomolies I see between each world, the more I can learn. I already know some things...Scriff seems universal to each world, and is, I believe intelligent and responsive to intelligent thought.  There are certain supernatural entities that can extend their power over multiple worlds, and there are also cultural echoes in the form of fiction from one world to another.  These factors tell me that I think that each universe is a shard of a greater creation put together by one universal creator.  I think that there are elements of that creation that are rebellious and that seek the destruction of all things, just as there are those that try to preserve it, and those that don't give a damn.  I think Scriff is the glue that holds them all together and is potentially the unconcious of the creator Himself, while responsive to our thoughts, it also directs Versers, good or ill in ways that are subtle beyond our understanding.  The visions experienced by versers that travel from one verse to another are definately significant and have meaning, and are probably the means by which the Scriff attempts to communicate...beyond that, I don't know."

You get access to three foot tall pile of newspapers that had been stored next to the wood furnace in higgley-piggley fashion.  Kenneth agrees that the Germans are record-keepers, but you'd have to go to one of their towns to get that.

The Guestbook is on a stand in the front room.

1. Raoul Hayden
2. Smoke and Mirror--'we remain uncertain who or what this individual or group was--however they were most helpful with building defenses for the lodge'.
3. Michael Di Vars
4. Lady Elena Espinoza Alisia Mauria Tonya of the House Alexandrov by the Grace of Athena, defender of the Faith, Regent of Valmos.
4. jak-b-quik--'female, but claimed to be 'post-human' whatever that means.'
5. xxxxx--'Og was illiterate, and did not seem to have much language.  However, he understood loyalty and good and evil quite clearly.'
6. Field Commando Stefan Hauser--After him, we started our Pledge Test. If he returns he is to be killed immediately.
7. Tadeusz the Sledgehammer
8. Malachai Vanek
9. Michael Di Vars
10. Clarence Bevridge
11. Summer Queen and friends
12. ---"Would not speak, a tall female with a dark cloak and a sword"
13. Kiera Wellington
14. Mariko of NeoTokyo
15. Sir Ray Walker and the Paladin of the Eye, Lilandra of Laurentia.
16. Captain Chis and wife Annie aka 'Little Miss Sureshot'.
17. John Walker aka the Walking Man
18. George no last name
19. Elivarsia, Priestess of Ares, High General of the Fifth Fleet.
20.

John replies that scriff is a liquid, but he then goes to show it to you if you like.  He says it wasn't that hard, not like trying to learn to read a book while doing gymnastics anyways.

They both shake their head.  And on the list, Kenneth shows you that only 14, 17,18,19 were still here.

"Hunh. The unconscious of the Creator.  Thats a new one on me, most versers think the scriff dreams mean nothing, just random static."  He pauses.  "Oh definitely there are spiritual forces of evil.  I've met a demon who came to collect an evil sorcerer's soul."

PT

Day ponders, "I think I have a few ideas about some ideas that may help, but unless there is an immediate pressing need that you have including imminent invasion by either the Reich or the Empire, then I need a few days to take stock of things.  In particular, my phyiscal capabilities may or may not have been significantly increased before I left, but I'm not sure what came with me when I versed.  I'll need to test that.  I'd also greatly love to find out all I can about the lore and capabilities of the others who have been here.  I also need to find out about the current tactical situation, though I'll take what I can get, including from the newspapers.  I will say from the get go, that the best immediate contributions I think I can make will be potentially getting more Versers here, though I need to learn a bit more first, as well as, if I can, applying the Sky equation here to help."

Assuming they cooperate, Day will take 3-4 days to pump them for information on the others and write it up in a note book.  He will tell them any information they want to know as well.  He will also attempt to get information on the world situation and compare it to his own knowledge of history.  He will examine their history books, literature, and the news papers.  He will test his physical capabilities and senses to see if the Ascension technique took at all, though he will not eat anything for two meals (since he started his fast in the last realm) but will not say anything about it, simply "I'm not hungry yet."

Finally, once he has all this information, he will try to feed it into the computer using the Sky Equation and see what he can learn.

Your Ascension took it seems.

The effects are apparently as follows:

1. You look into a mirror the next morning as you brush your teeth, and while you recognize yourself, you look what you'd look like if you spent the last two hours getting ready for the prom, instead of rolling out of bed in dire need of coffee.
2. You feel just smarter--10 IQ points.
3. Your emotions are more intense, and you're having some difficulty coping with the higher highs, lower lows, and greater precision of the emotions.  You seem to be able to understand your own emotions better as well.
4. You're hungry all the time.
5. You don't seem to run out of energy unless you run out of food, or if you do something like sprint--in that case you're not any more tough than before, but any need of an afternoon nap is gone.  But meals every two hours are a must.
6. You're not sure how much faster you are, but its less than 25%.
7. Your eyesight is now 20/10 or fighter pilot good.
8. Say goodbye to any allergies.
9. You feel stronger.  Testing it, you find you can bench press around 30 more pounds than before, and that your body very rapidly recovers from the lifting.  So, the next day, you're not sore at all.

Talking to John, he casually mentions being able to use 'some minor telekinesis', and then he sets off to go on a run in the mountains with a backpack full of rocks.

They give you the time you request.  Its a very laissez-faire situation here.  YOu're expected to do your best--how you do that is up to you.

Mariko--you catch her in the kitchen. When you ask about her capabilities, she spins toward you, flings out a hand, and four inch long steel talons pop out of her fingertips.  She then glares at you, and stalks away.

Also in the room is a very tall, redheaded man who seems faintly familiar.  His bass chuckle relaxes the air a bit.

"My name is George ah Cooper, you might say. The Lady is rather unfriendly.  As to what I can do, I can ride, shoot, skin an animal, and wrestle Indian fashion fairly well."

PT
We'll get to Sky in a bit.

Tom gets the feeling that the primary benefit of the ascension is the rapid recovery or learning time....indeed, the 10 IQ points was worth the entire thing in and of its self.  He has spent his whole life learning skill after skill just trying to 'catch up' to that extra 10 points.  Hard to explain.

Still...after seeing John Walker jogging with a bag of rocks, he really understands the scale of things.  Michael de Vars didn't become Warrior of Death by just having it happen or drinking a magic potion...but mixing training with actually DOING things is a real mix...and where does one start?

Is it more efficient to spend time learning learning techniques (like Linguistics) or mission specific skills (like German....)  The whole thing is...frankly somewhat overwhelming.

Still, one has to start somewhere, and at the moment knowing the weakness of the enemy is a good place to start.  He has some ideas already, but first he intends to examine the Sky Equations and see what he can learn.

You run the Sky Equations, and it comes back with "Incorrect parameters".  It takes about thirty minutes, but you eventually realize that any response that would be outlandish for 2030 Singularity Rising & Superheroes world is outlawed.

Its then another three hours of digging through the program looking for the correct menus to turn off this 'limit' to 'unlimited parameters'.

Then you try it again.

First level analysis suggests that both the German Reich and the Japanese Imperium are nearly exhausted of military manpower, and are socially exhausted as well.

They are in a period of recuperation which should last at least five years, and up to thirty years.

During this time, there is significant risk of imperial fragmentation into smaller states as the inefficiencies of a totalitarian political system cause drought and famine.

The primary block against this is the hard-core of dedicated leadership willing to do anything it takes to stop revolutionaries.  Note, the reason the French Revolution succeeded is a willingness on the part of the French aristocracy to liberalize.  The central core of leadership in both countries shows no such inclination toward mercy.

It is also unlikely for the DMZ to be invaded by either side as this would provoke uncertainties which would likely be resolved by the use of nuclear weapons by both sides against the rivals home country.  It is a virtual certainty that submarines of both sides have major cities in the other country targetted.  Although it is clear that the Germans have a sizable edge in missile and nuclear weapons development.

First level analysis suggests that if one were able to eliminate a thousand of the most respected leaders and their up and coming proteges, the hard core, the leaders of the leaders as it were, the majors and colonels that other majors and colonels know are going to be generals one day, and that sort that the German Reich would fragment as a lack of leadership initiative doomed it to becoming a victim of bueraucratic impulses, and compassion.

pt

Tom is tempted to share his findings with the others, but he wants to be sure.  Still, it appears that Mariko is taking the right action here.  He has some ideas about how to do this, but none of them are very pleasant.  It appears the sky equations are accurate about his thoughts on the matter of the two empires over extending themselves, in fact the fact that sewing dissension among them is also probably the way to go...

The question is efficiently eliminating the leadership...1000 is an awful lot to kill, though protiges are in some ways easier...still, 1000 is a small number and a huge number in some ways.

Tom will continue with his analysis of the situation of the sky equation.

However, he also spends a bit of time each day with Walker working on Scriff, learning how to isolate it and learning about its properties.  He answers any questions Walker might have.

He decides that if he is going to start taking out leaders, he has to forge himself into a weapon.

He begins taking at least 14 hours a day to work on the following items. (about 3.5 each)

1)Physical Strength increase.  Hiking with rocks is a good idea...but if they have a pool, he ties weights to all parts of himself and begins running back and forth in the pool at the end where he is up to his neck (but won't drown).  He makes sure the knots can be undone. It would be rather emberassaing to verse by dying from training.

2)Target practice.  There is no other way to do this.  He takes his gun.  He finds a target, and he begins to shoot.  A lot.  He practices shooting from the hip.  This is VERY hard to do, but in the long run it will make all the difference in the world.

3)German.  Tom begins to immerse himself in German, attempting to learn as much as he can.

4)More detailed analysis of the sky equations.  He feeds as much data as he can gain from this Time line and feeding it into the equations, giving it more working information so that as he makes suggestions of possible actions and scenarios it can respond with increase accuracy.  He also attempts to enter information and capabilities of the versers or theoretical versers.

You continue to refine the equations looking for weak links.  One that jumps out at you is ball bearing factories, and the other is the East Coast ports (especially since NYC is radioactive and thus of no use).  But you are running into the GIGO problem (garbage in, garbage out).  You need more detailed information than a random pile of newspapers that is not all that large.

The Sky Equations are getting increasingly speculative with the confidence percentage dropping.

Scriff--you see Walker pour it out onto a countertop from his vial.  Its golden, and acts much like mercury.  He manipulates it with a pencil.

"If given a charge, electric, I mean, it will bond I guess with a substance.  I had twice what I have now."

Walker has you fill out a five double-sided pages with each a long sheet of questions.  Much of it is what you remember of history in your first world.  Other large parts are descriptions of your other worlds, and any versers you've met.  Its very detailed, and while it stresses your memory, it helps you to systematically evaluate whats happened to you as well.

The pool is inset into the roof.  Its concrete, and it has threeinches of water in it.  There is something wrong with the water inflow pipe which feeds from the house through a wall (of heavy timber, and the concrete wall of the pool.)

There is a target range the next valley over, and a LOT of ammunition hidden in a cave.  Piles of it man-high.  However Walker points out that Cooper is a very good hunter, and that if you wanted to go after an occasional bear or mountain goat, you'd help feed the Lodge.

The house staff begins to speak to you solely in German.  So does Cooper.  Walker grins, and joins you.  He knows a bit more than you, but he's still pretty weak at it himself.  Mariko ignores everyone as is her wont.

The Sky Equations suggest that Mariko is illiterate or otherwise ignorant, and ashamed of this as it dishonors her which is the source of her attitude.  They suggest that Walker would be a most formidable opponent being the sort of person who would not die easy, and would not stop until he did die.  They suggest that George Cooper is a talented warleader and an extremely competent political leader.

PT

Tom begins to feed parameters into the Sky Equations about the best potential method of approaching Mariko in hopes of integrating her into the team.  Either asking her for help in training in his fighting skills, directly confronting her about her situation and/or how he learned, or a potential exchange of teaching training.

He will indeed learn hunting from George Cooper.  Both from a potential source of information, and as a method of deepening the bond between them with the possibility of having him, Walker and Mariko on a strike team.

He will begin to run and work out with Walker, however his backpack will have his own actual stuff in it instead of rocks, and he will train with weights instead of on the sawhorse.  He will also continue to observe his experiments with Scriff and obtain copies of all his data if he can.  He will use this to expand his own knowledge of Scriff as well as potentially feed the information into the Sky Equations.  He will also find out if Walker thinks a Verser could have all of the scriff removed from them via this method 'curing' them.

It is at this point he realizes he is an idiot and that he has heard of Walker before.  "Do you have or know how to construct a device from moving from one world to the next without dying? Michael de Vries said you might..."

He prepares a draft paper via typewriter of his preliminary findings using the Sky Equations and gauges reaction to them (he most definately does not include its reading of them as individuals).

Tom prays and meditates to seek the Gift of Tounges while learning German, they same way he learned Spanish.  He sets out an English and German bible, and learns German by reading as much of the scriptures as he can in German, refering only to the English version when he has to.

Tom continues to practice with the gun.  He needs to learn to shoot and shoot well.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:33, Sun 26 Nov 2006.

The Sky Equations think that approaching her to learn skills in fighting is the most likely way to make more than casual contact with Mariko.

Cooper teaches you a 'one shot, one kill' method.  He's a very proficient hunter.  But he occasionally says things like 'how easeful it is that we do not need to wait for a burning match to light our powder'.  And sometimes when you make a comment he simply fails to react as if he is trying to hide the fact that he doesn't understand.  And you still feel like you've met him before or something.

What exactly are you wanting to do to the Scriff?  Drop it? Weight it? Dose little bunnies with it?

The Sky Equations don't really have anything to say about Scriff since its a physical phenomenon, and they are sociological guesswork.

Walker thinks you could 'cure' a verser, but he wouldn't want to be cured.

Walker shows you a device with gleaming green stones, and red metal all twisted into a shape that your eye keeps trying to follow, and it keeps ending up giving you a headache.

"It is not glowing which I think means it won't work in this universe, or it needs recharging.  I put it together out of some other items, basically following a recipe on this abandoned starbase. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.  I don't think the owners of the starbase were human."

The reception is cautiously optimistic.

You're rapidly picking up German, and you feel as if your prayer was answered although not instantaneously.  Its more that you find yourself smoothly moving forward with minimal hitches.  Of course, the extra ten IQ might account for that as well.

Most of the pistol bullets in the cave are .45.


PT

Tom will approach Mariko.  He will try to do so as humbly and yet compotently as possible, "I am afraid that I am...rather inexperienced when it comes to the fighting arts.  I understand that you are a rather accomplished warrior.  I was wondering...would it be possible for you to teach some of this to me?"

Tom did not intend to use Sky to examine Scriff. Sorry if I made that seem like the case.  Tom replies to Walker, "I think that I've been chosen to be a verser for a reason, or even if it was random, and I don't think it was, there is too much good I can do in my current state...no, the reason I made that observation is because any society must have a means of removing members from its ranks.  I think that it is a mistake to simply dump the problems of a psychotic verser appearing here off on the next world when we have the power to remove their scriff and ensure that they threaten and harm no one ever again.  Have you any idea how to collect Scriff besides extraction from a Verser?"

Tom will slowly try to get more of Cooper's past out of him.  He will open his mind to the fact that he might be like an actor or a founding father or something he has met in the past (perhaps even an alternate version of Michael de Vries or something).  He continues to learn to hunt.

He is quite convinced that the learning of the language is a divine gift, and gives thanks as such.  10 IQ points makes it faster maybe, but only a fool fails to recognize the obvious.  Anyone who has seen the inner workings of a chromosome and chalks that up to coincidience is ...not someone who has Tom's respect.

He has the glimmer of a plan in his mind but needs to work out the final details.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Mon 27 Nov 2006.

Mariko gives you a long stare, trying to decide if you're making fun of her.  And then she slumps to the ground and sighs.

"I am a street rat from NeoTokyo in 2090 A.D.. Or I was until Sony Corp decided to speriment me.  I hold a Blue Ring in Ninjutsu and a Gold Ring in Walldancing.  I can't teach you WD since you're not a street sam.  No cyber, no bouncy up and down walls, no jazz.  Blue ain't juicetastic. I can teach you a bit if you like, but I'm not even good enough for a mile scraper tournameant."

She bounces to her feet in a way thats not quite human.

"What I am good at, is sneaking. Mostly, its because thats how I got my meals back home.  Sneak, and lift. What I do now is drift like smoke, and slice some pretty purty's throat while he sleeps."

==============================================================================

Walker shakes his head "no".  "However, I have heard from a guy who talked to a guy how this guy Tadeusz dumped some serial killer or something verser into a bubble universe with freaky laws like nothing could die in that universe.  And then threw away the key, basically."

And then Walker snaps his fingers.  "Its obvious. We all came from worlds where they were experimenting on scriff.  So someone in your original world must know how to manufacture scriff.  Just find another world like it, and maybe..."

=============================================================================

Cooper is reticent to an extreme.  But as you puzzle at it, suddenly it clicks.  Carefully, you reach into your wallet, and pull out a dollar bill.  Yes, its him.  He looks a bit younger, and he's not wearing a wig, and he smiles, but its definitely him.

Your exercise and training program continues on into its second week, and you can see improvements.

PT

"Sneaking is something that is in more ways useful than being able to beat the crap out of things.  I hadn't even considered that.  And don't knock yourself too much.  I'm working with these sky equations right now that are sort of like a Mathematical crystal ball, and right now they're basically saying that exactly what you're doing with the Japanese Officers is 100% the right strategy for being the most effective in helping these people.  I'd be very interested to learn more about your world, but if there is anything else at all I could teach you, then please let me know.  I feel better about exchanges than outright begging your time." He smiles warmly, indicating that he doesn't look down at her or make fun of her at all.  Quite the opposite, given her background, he respects her a GREAT DEAL.  Growing up in that kind of environment would be hell on Earth.

************

"Then it sounds like Tadeusz definately knows how to control which universe he goes to.  Does the device you constructed allwo you to do that? Would removing scriff from a verser even slow down their regeneration?  We need better instruments.  If we give them cash, can our hosts produce a few things like a mass spectrometer? Or would we have to get that ourselves?  As for how to make it...well, yes, your argument makes sense.....but I had hoped to do so here....would you be up for a ritual of some kind on the Scriff that may or may not work but that might increase the odds of bringing more Versers here?"

***************

Tom will patiently and respectfully try to give the impression to Cooper that this world is in dire need of a true leader.  He will speak in particular of the great but flawed men who led the allies in WWII and how it was in many ways changed both by macroeconomic factors but also by heroic individuals as well.  He will also hint at the fact that he has some ideas but not give away too much yet.

**************

Whilst hunting one night, he looks up at the moon and glories in the stars, a sight that he never gets tired of.  There is a shooting star, and suddenly he has it.  The last peice of the puzzle.  It is insane...utterly insane, but it might just work.

He rushes back to the lodge (carefully, slipping on a rock and breaking his neck at this point would do no one any good), and enters the following plan into the Sky Equations.

Postulate: 1000 leaders must die to break hard core leadership and create fracturing.

Postulate: Gathering 1000 leaders together and accomplishing this feat all at once will increase the odds and speed of this event.

Postulate: Humanity and social structures are like biological organisms.  Much like Aids is fought with a 'cocktail' of drugs, so too can a society be fought with multiple programs.

He wants to try all 3.

Platform A-Project Longshot

Phase I: Raid periphial German intelligence area for purer data for Sky Equations.  Do so in Argentina.

Phase II: Use data to create list of hard core scientists that are supremely loyal to the Reich and empire.  Kill these scientists (the ones that can reveal the plan).  Find those scientists who are too valuable to lose but with the ability to lie and the willingness to change the system.

Convince scientists to lie and say a giant meteorite is going to hit the Earth.  Create a conspiracy of scientists.

Phase III: German and Imperial leadership creates special shelter to hide the best and brightest when meteorite hits, concentrating them.  Blow up bunker.

Platform B-Project Sureshot

Create world wide organized resistance using four person cells, with 2 being inc charge of organizing more cells.  No person knows who is in more than two cells at a time.  Purpose of resistance no longer to put 'sand in the gear box' of the reich but instead to kill the list of 1000 by whatever means necessary.

Meanwhile, DMZ prepares for collapse of society by stockpiling food etc. needed for independence.

Platform C-Project Longview

Create sleeper agents of German-Americans to go to Germany and have their children raised as potential SS members to infiltrate.  Have some be willing to turn in their parents to 'prove' their loyalty.  Act as assasins from within and kill the 1000.

"You can come with me on my next run." Mariko offers. She studies you with an impassive face.  "That way,I can teach, and you can tote, be the mule, and we can do deep run."

=====================

"It opens a gate, and you can peek inside real quick,a nd leave if you want before the gate decays."

He shakes his head at the mass spectrometer, and then pauses.

"Of course, we could raid Oak Ridge or Los Alamos.  Go on a...shopping trip."

He pauses,looks at you, and then says...

"No demon summoning, but okay."

===============================================

Your strategies look potentially fruitful to you.

PT

Tom takes 1/10th of the scriff that Walker is offering and returns to the exact spot where he appeared.  He drops it on that spot and very quietly whispers (out of respect and an attempt at humility rather than emberrasment)

Wherein thy will
O Lord be done
Thy Son thou sent
To my world
Angels at his beck and call
Wouldst thou now aid
My fallen brethren?
Wouldst thou now summon
through thy miscreant
jubiliant chaotic
transversant servant Scriff
those who wander through the skies
Of alien stars no longer their home
Wilt thou call them here
O Lord of All Creation
To Bless this thy Scriff
Blood of the Benevolent
To Gather under thy banner
Those who will fight to
take these lost sheep
And pull them out of the mire.

Tom will go with Walker to Los Alamos for scientific equipment.  If Mariko is willing to use this opportunity to teach him, so mote it be, otherwise he will go with her at the next available opportunity.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:42, Wed 29 Nov 2006.

You pray, and you feel like it was heard.  There doesn't seem to be an immediate response, so you get up and track down Walker and Mariko.

Mariko just shakes her head, and then as if she were reminding herself, thanks you.

Later, as you get your backpack loaded onto your back by Walker who seems stronger than he looks (although not superhumanly so), Walker speaks.

"All Asians east of the Rocky Mountains have been exterminated.  She would stand out very much.  Now, the Imperium hasn't been so harsh to the white people west of the Rockies, not that they've been nice or decent mind you, but nothing like a total genocide."

Then you and him set out walking.  And as you head up and down the mountain trails of the Rockies you see why he is called The Walking Man.  After three hours of toting seventy pounds of gear, he looks the same as the moment he started.

PT
OOC: There are two main paths, or more. 1)You could hike down the Rockies, and then cross from them to Los Alamos.  2)You could hike east, and go into Reich territory, and possibly use a train to go south.

Tom's instinct is to walk, simply because he's paranoid and that being as low key as possible is a good thing.  However, he long ago learned that there was a subtle but extremely important difference between instinct and IMPRESSION and that was something he had learned from long and hard experience not to ignore.

Despite his protest of logic, the way is clear.  They enter Reich territory for the train...he doesn't know why, but works with Walker to keep as ABSOLUTELY low a profile as they possibly can.

You and he walk for several days down to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  You and he both make good time, and at one point he laughs.

"You're the first person I've met who wouldn't have been begging for a rest break, even a rest day by now."

Another day, and with both your backpacks filled, and the greater part of a mountain goat sliced up between the two of you to add to the weight, you and he reach a `dangling three strands of barbed wire that rises two feet.

"Welcome to the Reich." Walker says, and steps across it as the sun sends his long shadow pointing out across the Great Plains behind him.  "So, do you want to 'borrow' a uniform, or just make like we're laborers.  I do have papers for both of us, of course.  We're heavy equipment operators needed in
Arizona for the Great Canyon dam project."

PT

Tom is very pleased his new found abilities allows him to keep up, and he is enjoying it a great deal.  If it doesn't distract him too much (ie if he is able to retain mental capacity whilst walking) he'll continue to practice his German with John Walker.

Tom is about to make a suggestion about choosing based on whether or not he speaks decent enough german yet to pass for a native...but then he thinks about it...the idea of wearing that Uniform except in absolutely dire need is simply anathema to him....he will if he has to, but not yet.

"Day La...." and then he stops.  Fine.  The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways.  If it is His will, so mote it be.  What the Lord clenses, is clean.

"Nazi.  But so help me if we get killed, and I end up versing in somewhere in that universe, I'll just die....metaphorically speaking."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Tue 05 Dec 2006.

Walker chuckles grimly.

And you both head out into the Great Plains as night comes.  Soon, you can see the lights of a town up ahead.

You and he walk through the long grasses, past a burnt-out and weed overgrown Sherman tank, and up a rolling hill to view the town.

Its one main street, and two cross streets.  You see a number of German jeeps, and a halftrack all parked at the edge of town.

From the town itself, you hear laughter, and loud, bouncy music.

"This is Sandersville.  Its a Libertytown.  That means when the good little soldiers get tired from slaughter, they come here for a day or two for a break.  Soldiers come here from all over, and the townsfolk show them a good time.  Bunch of collaborators." He spits.  "How do you want to work this?"

PT

"We don't.  That town is death.  We find a way to take a train in the morning or tonight, but that town is ....something we avoid.  We walk around it, we walk to the next town, whatever it takes."

Walker looks momentarily dissapointed, and then shrugs.

"Okay, well then lets hit the road, or the track."

You and he slip around the town in the dark, and come to the railroad yard on the far side of the town.  Its a small thing, a quonset hut for up to three train engines or cars, a few cars scattered about the yard, and a station of perhaps a thousand square feet that looks shot up.

Barbed wire surrounds it, and you can see a dog roaming about inside.

"We could put puppy there to sleep with some goat a la sleeping pills, and slip on in, or hike down the track a couple miles, and jump a moving train?  Any other ideas?"

PT

Tom will look around for any kind of human habitation.  If there is a human watcher, he wants to engage them if possible, possibly befriend them.  If not then the goat thing is probably the way to go if the stun pistol doesn't work and isn't unnaturally loud.

Re: Walker's disappointment, "Don't worry.  We'll get them later.  On the way back."

The shot-up trailer sized railroad station has a light inside, just one, you decide after looking a bit closer.  Its faint, probably a desk mounted lamp like the ones beloved of accountants.

But if someone's in there, they haven't come out in the last ten minutes.

PT

What rank is the uniform Tom's wearing?

Tom will look for a doorbell, buzzer or other method of summoning the gentleman in the shed.  If there isn't one, he will actually shout to get the attention of whoever is inside.

Uniform?  You haven't gotten a uniform yet.  That was the reason Walker wanted to go into the town--too knock a couple soldiers dead, and steal their stuff.

However, yes there is a buzzer if you chose to use it, and the man inside will come out after a few minutes.  He looks irritated to be bothered, and tired as if he wishes he were asleep.

PT

Not going to wake the guy without the uniform, since what there is of the crazy plan kind of involves intimidating him etc.  That means we need to find to snitzels inside of the town that we can mug and take said uniforms from.  However, mindful of Raiders of the Lost Arc, Tom makes sure they choose people whose uniforms are going to actually fit.

You and the Walking Man low crawl into town.  He's got some experience at this, and takes the lead.  Slipping under the two strands of barbed wire doesn't challenge you, but the sign hanging from it does.

"Trespassers who survive will be turned over the Medical Experiment Division for the greater glory of the Fatherland."  It then repeats in German.

Once near the edge of town, you spot several bars, a house of ill repute, a latrine house (basically an open shed over a ditch), and a firing range.  There is a smoking guard over to your left at the flimsy and open gate.  The range is dead center.  The latrine is far off to the right.

There is a lot more to the town that you can't see from the tumbleweed the two of you are hiding behind.

PT

Tom makes a mental note to learn sign language later.  Instead he quietly whispers, "How stealthy do you feel you can be? That latrine looks like an ideal spot, but we have to be very very sure we don't alert that guard.  If we wait long enough, it looks like a great place to find the uniforms we're looking for."

"I hunted deer in my native world, and I've had to hunt with spears in another world." He shrugs in a fatalistic way, and heads out in a low crawl.  Perforce, you follow him wincing as he occasionally lets his tail rise too high, or when a stick snaps.  He's not too bad at it, but he's definitely no ninja.

Still, it seems like its enough.

The both of you slip into the latrine, and are assaulted by a stench that makes your eyes water, and you wheeze.

You wait a few minutes, and then Walker taps his ear even as you hear footsteps coming your way.  It sounds like one person.

PT

If the stun pistol is silent, then let's use it on this guy.  If not, I guess we're going to have to do it the old fashioned way.  Tom is going to focus his own effort entirely on silencing the the man, first by covering his mouth and then by attempting to counter any moves he makes whilst thrashing about.  If the man is 'one of them' then Tom will snap his neck, trying to ensure as little blood as possible.

At that point, it becomes a question of which of the two of us he most physically resembles regarding who gets the uniform.

He is obviously extremely mindful for the guard, since being caught at this point means it is probably literally better for him to blow himself to bits than let them find out about the lodge.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:53, Thu 12 July 2007.

The stun pistol is not designed for stealth.

You slip up on the man with the double lightning bolts on his collar, and drag him off the 'toilet' seat.  He flails back at your chest with his elbows, bites your fingers, and you try once, and twice to wrench his neck, and then the Walking Man pins him so that you can get leverage as you have been staggering about the latrine area.

Snap.

He falls lifeless at your feet.

The Walking Man methodically and coolly begins stripping him even as you hear more footsteps coming from outside in the distance.

PT

Does it sound like one pair or more than one person? Are the foot steps coming from the direction of the guard or another direction entirely?

Does it look like we can dump the body in the latrine? Which of the two of us speaks better German, the Walking Man or I (I'm presuming he does since he's spoken it longer)?

Tom's actions will be quite rapid but certain information will determine his choice of action; even if that information is 'unclear'.

Sounds like two.

The sound is coming from the direction of the guard.

Yes, you can dump the body into the latrine.  And the Walking Man has the same idea.  You both roll the body into the ditch, and with a low 'splursh' it sinks.

Your partner speaks better German, although he's not very good.

PT

Options flash before Tom's mind, but the fact that there are two of them, and the fact that they are coming from the direction of the guard, changes things considerably.  Still, the most favorable outcome is too good to be ignored...if somehow they can take these two by stealth it will be good.

Tom is tempted to hide in the latrine but thinks against it.  Not only is the idea of the Nazi's...performing certain actions regarding him untenable unless absolutely necessary, but if they're suspicious then Walker will need his help.

He will however find the best place to lie in wait that he can, possibly by the door opposite of Walker.  Whichever person Walker does not attack, Tom will attack, again with the entire focus being on covering his mouth first at the expense of disabling him.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:15, Sun 15 July 2007.

OOC: De dice, de hate ya' mon./Jamaican accent.

IC:
You grab the guy, and he slips your grasp by luck or skill.  He turns about, and gawks at you as his brain tries to catch up with events.

Walker's man gets slammed in the throat with a hand chop, crushing his larnynx, but training comes to the fore, and he staggers back Luger in hand.  One bullet snaps out, and knocks Walker back.

PT

Tom doesn't even hesitate.  He kicks the guy in front of him in the crotch as hard as he possibly can.  He then whips out his pistol and shoots the other guy, while he then shoots Slippery When Wet with the stun pistol.

He knows that he has only seconds.  The gunshot will bring the guards swarming like ants.    He has a vague idea for a plan that will probably not work, but all options entail taking care of these two maroons first.

Your foot slips in something, and your foot goes wide.  The bullet blows the top of the Walker's man's head off.  The first guy lunges toward you, and grapples you loosely.

You fire your stun pistol, but into the ground as your enemy's thigh knocks it aside.

Thunk, thunk.

Walker buries a knife in your opponent's back twice.  Both the Nazi's are dead.  Walker looks faintly green, and he has a bullet just below his heart.  An ordinary man would have fallen by now.  He's swaying.  He's holding a knife that is bloody up to the hilt.

"Don't think I'm getting out of this one alive, pal." He murmurs.

PT

Tom thinks quickly, "I can try and run, but honestly I'd rather help you out of that uniform.  I PERSONALLY wouldn't want to verse in that.  It has been an honor to know you friend."

Assuming he takes the help, Tom will help the Walking Man out of the uniform.  If that's not, then Tom waits a second and retrieves his equipment.  He also listens carefully for any more footsteps or an alarm.

Walker nods jerkily.  You help him strip as you can hear men advancing from the outside with caution.  Its at least three, probably five to seven.  You've managed to get the attention of the MP's.

Walker grabs a Luger.

"I'll." Spits blood. "Go out in a blaze of..." coughs like he's about to die, and masters it with a supreme effort of will. He turns to the front of the latrine which is the direction the MP's are coming from.

PT

Tom nods.  It is at this point that he must make a choice.  Quite frankly, his own thinking is very similar to that of Walkers.  There is very little way that he is going to be able to run out of here and get away with it.  If he is doomed, he'd very much like to take as many of them as he can before he goes.

And then he thinks of the people of this world.  It is a slim chance they have.  His plan for killing the Nazi leaders is a long shot at best, but most of them have given up hope for themselves.  Should he help those who gave up their sacred birthright?

Yet if he asked God for help doing the same thing, he should at least do all in his power, however slim the chance it was, and it was slim, to escape this place, and to move on towards those who could help him implement his plan.  He wasn't even sure he could find his way BACK to the lodge if he tried.

Tom says, "Give em hell Walker.  Give me the papers you had for us, and I'll see if I can find a way to make them pay even more."

Assuming he gives Tom the papers...if all footsteps and noise are coming from one direction, and if there is a back entrance, he'll run out the other way...better than the alternative.

If there isn't an alternative....

Tom (and he REALLY doesn't like this) quietly moves into the latrine, holding his backpack above his head as best he can, and moves back towards the back.  If he must 'dive and hold his breath' he will, though another way out down there would be even better.

The fact that he doesn't even know if there is another way out or a way for him to climb out doesn't help.  The fact that there is a dead body down there doesn't help.  He goes anyway.

(Note: I'm assuming if we can hide a dead body in a latrine, we can hide a live body in a latrine.  If it is a logistical impossibility to do so, then I just take out both pistols and join Walker in the ending bloodbath.)
This message was last edited by the player at 15:25, Thu 19 July 2007.

You force yourself into the latrine as Walker stumbles out, gun in hand.  The stench clenches your stomach, and vomit rises in your throat.  Eyes bulging, you barely can hear Walker shout.

" Something, something, something Hitler." Bang.

The rattle of shots continues for nearly thirty seconds.

Suddenly it stops.

You wince, and crouch down further.

Men rush in, and look about.  Some shouts in German about the stench, about the magician.  A complaint is registered by the sergeant in charge about the paperwork to fill in, and the men file out of the latrine shed.  Someone says something sympathetic to a wounded soldier about how he was got off light instead of having Doernitz's luck.

Gasping, your eyes running, and your head swimming, you clamber out of the latrine feeling as if you are in an extended nightmare.  You have a change of clothes, a Nazi uniform.  And you're encrusted in...well....

PT

Tom isn't happy, but he has a job to do.  He determines that his first mistake was coming on a 'shopping' trip for the scientific equipment.  As interested as he is in studying Scriff, Walker at least left this world having made at least some difference.

Short of one Nazi, Tom hasn't done anything.

He is reluctant to put on the uniform, but if it was good enough for Indiana Jones, its good enough for him.

The leavings from the Latrine are another matter entirely.  If he runs into anyone, too many questions are likely to be asked.  He also can't fast talk his way when he doesn't speak the language fluently.  He decides that learning linguistic skills is a must....

But for now, sneaking OUT of the camp and going up into the mountains to wash this...stuff...off was the best solution.  Then he needed to find a library or repository or archive to put together the list.

I thought your count was two Nazi's...one of them Waffen SS.

Slipping out of the camp is not difficult, and soon you find yourself under the two strands of barbed wire.  About an hour later, you're washing off in a mountain stream.

You spot one bear there, but he takes a whiff, and then pulls a face, and a whuff, and shambles off.  Evidently you stink too badly to eat.

About an hour later as the sun rises, you actually feel clean.  Your clothes are as clean as water, and hand-scrubbing, and beating on a rock is going to get them.  They still have an aroma, but its bearable.

You're in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains looking east across the Great Plains as the Sun gilds the grass in glory.

PT

Tom decides that what he really needs is a library.  Even if he can get to the lodge, he isn't going to go empty handed.  However, he needs not just a library, he needs a good library, and he suspects the farther east he goes, the more likely he is to find it.

There are problems of course, significant problems.  Primary among them is the fact that since he needed papers, it clearly indicates that the Nazi's restrict movement, and he is not a forger.  On the other hand, he needs to get them this information; to compile the list.

He also has a few other ideas. Tom begins to head East, walking.  He avoids major settlements or high ways, or contact with people of any kind.  He'll hunt himself if he can, taking advantage of the skill's he's learned so far.

The first day you have to lay down in the grass for an hour as a Nazi APC parks a half-mile away, and the soldiers get out and amuse themselves by shooting at birds for a couple hours.

It provides you some food that night.

But you go to bed hungry.

The next day you wake ravenous, and begin walking.  Your body is formidable, but it requires considerable food. After an hour you begin hunting in earnest.  Soon, a deer falls to your weapons.

You see no Nazi's this day, but only a small burnt out village, and above it a grove.

Cooking requires constant tending as the fire always threatens to go out, or to blaze up in the great winds that sweep the grass.  Occasionally it also threatens to turn smoky which you are aware would be disaster.

The grove you are in provides enough wood for the fire and for perhaps another day among the dead branches.

Nightfall comes, and all the deer is cooked finally.  You have enough meat for today, and about two more days.  Although you find yourself craving vegetables with an intense passion.

PT
OOC: I'm being guided a bit by the Traveller 2000 cross-country travel ideas.  Those rules made it impossible to travel day to day, gather food, and keep watch without taking an occasional 'catch up sleep' and 'hunt' day off unless you had a decent size group like six or more.  You can hike faster, but you also need a lot more food so one day out of 2-4 days depending on conditions you're going to have to lay up unless you want to suffer physical degeneration.

Tom continues moving east.  He will supplement his meals with his MRE's, just to make sure that he is getting something balanced in his diet.  He is well aware that his enhanced metabolism can harm as well as help.  He needs to get to a library though, and a good one.

You travel for two more days across a depopulated Great Plains.  You see signs that the forest is coming back.  Once you have to hide from a patrol plane.

This is followed by a day of rest and hunting in an old farmhouse.

Three more days, and you find yourself ten pounds lighter and looking down to an autobahn heading ruler straight to the horizon where sits towers.  You can see the downtown of Mengele from the small grassy hill you are laying on.  You can also see a sign saying 'Mengele 12 km', and every ten minutes an APC or armored limousine or convoy chugs down the road at a sedate fifty-five mph or thereabouts.

Its a number of miles before you reach farmland, but the city seems to be surrounded by such.

PT

That name.

That name, plus the sign is almost enough to make Tom take the pistol and give himself an interdimensional ticket out of here.  Furthermore, the complete lack of civilian traffic tells him that this place is going to be a problem.  He also suspects that this city is perhaps worse than most others in the occupation....with a name like that.

On the other hand, if he isn't able to get the list, then if there is one person he can take out, then this place would be it.

Reluctantly, Tom puts on the uniform.  Not wearing it at this point is too dangerous.  He resumes his stealthy approach but continues moving toward the city.

Two miles further on, you see what appears to be a forrest of scarecrows.  Upon coming closer, you realize they are long dessicated bones hung upon crosses.  A firmly built sign of metal protrudes from the ground.  It proclaims in German and English.

"Escaped Medical Test Subjects will be Crucified.  Taking a body down is punishable likewise."

There is at least forty here, with some less decomposed, and others just bones and rags.

Another mile, and you can see the entrance gate to the farms surrounding Mengele.  The whole town is surrounded by a miles deep farmbelt which is encased by a ten foot fence with three strand barbed wire.  You can see dozens of people working in the fields.  All of them have the same white uniform.

The roadgate has an entrance way which is not checked, but anyone leaving gets a thorough check you note as a five ton truck tries to leave.  Ten minutes later, and its allowed out.

PT

Tom is torn.

The fact of the matter is that he is quite sure, as horrible as the Nazi's are, not every town can be like this.  Not by a long shot.  They're sociopaths, but they're in economic competition with the Japanese, which means that this little "experiment" is clearly the work of Mr. Mengele or an extremely devoted protige.  It also says interesting things about the general power structure of the Reich here that a local commander can have such autonomy.

Tom is not like 'The Walking Man' and not even close to Michael Di Vars.  His odds of success here are slim.  Some day perhaps, he might have comparable skills, and he was rather amazed that his practice with the pistol had payed off sufficiently to blow the head off of the second nazi, but that could have just been a lucky shot.  His enhancements help him a great deal, but he's relatively sure they didn't take entirely given some of the feats he saw from the others in Cool's world.

He knows that if he goes in there to take out Mengle, he's probably not coming out again.  Furthermore, his greatest contribution to the resistance here is the list, and possible extremely long shot chance of destroying all their leaders at once.

In the end, it isn't even a question.  He goes into the compound, because even though it doesn't make sense tactically or strategically, this man is a monster, and Monsters Must Be Killed.

Well, its going to take time to build up warrior skills, and while he probably should have been practicing that each day while traveling, survival and stealth were a bit higher priorities. :)



Under the fence, though the fence will be watched to ensure that there aren't any wires, proximity alarms etc.  Also he's going to make sure that it doesn't tear his uniform since getting this one was costly enough as it is.

You approach the fence, and you hear a whistle.  Wincing you wait, and then with surprise you see the workers and their guards leaving the work.  Its evidently lunch time.

You slip under the fence without too much difficulty with the aroma of raw green beans and tomatoes mixing with the scent of sun-baked earth and bean soup wafting from the communal lines several acres away.  The plants catch your eye...green beans and tomatoes growing on the same plant.

Maybe Mengele has improved his science.  He's not just injecting blue color dye into brown eyes anymore.

You're able to get into a patch of experimental, half-grown corn before the whistle blows again.

PT

Tom had half suspected this might be a problem, now he knows it is.  He is a walking treasure trove of genetic darkness that Mengele can take advantage of.  He does NOT want to get into a regular habit of taking his own life just because things get difficult, but he always knew that his odds of taking out Mengele were slim....but before all he had to lose was his equipment and his dignity...sooner or later he'd die if he was caught and if not he'd die taking out Mengele.

Now, its a whole lot worse.  And if he'd listened to his inner voice the first time, he would have not gone into the town and Walker would still be here.  If he'd followed his rational mind the second time, he would have just walked around and found another city, then he could have put together the list and given it to the resistance.

To ignore his better judgement a third time is utterly unacceptable; and the risk of giving Mengele ascension is simply too much to risk....but so is taking his life.  He might be immortal, but what would Scriff or for that matter God think if he routinely changes worlds and lives like changing a channel?

He prays about it, silently because of his situation, focusing his mind on the needs and suffering of the people in this city, versus the suffering that others could suffer in experiments trying to gain ascension if he is captured.  Is it better to take the small change that he can kill Mengele or should he leave?

A limosine with a snapping Nazi flag drives up to the group.  A man jumps out of the back seat, and instantly you can see the difference in quality.  Most of the people you've been seeing are the scrubs and tattered bits of an exhausted empire.  This man actually looks tough, perhaps not as tough as Walker or you, and certainly not as tough as Michael, but competent for all that.

He snaps a salute, and then helps out a man from the back seat of the limosine.

Mengele gets out.

You know its him simply by the supreme arrogance with which he moves.  He knows, and all about him know that he has merely to blink, or nod, and the man next to him will take his Sten machine pistol and kill them all.

And no one will ask him why, or make him do any accounting for his actions.

You see Mengele fill his lungs, and smile as he looks at his possessions.  Land, plants, and people he owns like God owns, or so he thinks.

A verse comes to mind.  'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.'

He's starting an inspection tour of the area.

PT

Tom does not hesitate.  He stands and shoots Mengele.  He keeps firing until the clip is empty and then reloads if he has to.  If Mengele goes down, then he shoots the body guard.

Tactically, this is not the best option, but Tom has experienced miracles that have altered the physical world from time to time, and the one rule he has learned is Peter's lesson.  He doesn't consider himself better than anyone else, but as long as you've got divine intervention on this scale, it is foolish to assume that it should be done in half degrees.

The Lord does help those who help themselves.  There are times when using common sense and tactical reasoning are fitting and proper, but when the demon is placed immediately in your sights, its a heck of time to look down at the water and go, "Gee, what happens if I fall in?"

Your first bullet misses.

Your second bullet misses.

Mengele turns toward you with a startled but amused glance.  He's confident in his power.

The bodyguard fires.

Bullets stud your chest, and you stagger, spitting blood.

You straighten up, and Mengele is giggling.

Your third bullet takes him in the chin, and throws him backwards, and down.

The rest of the soldiers open fire on you....

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Next world is "Day and XXXX"...Also, new skill mark for pistol +1, and new skill Miraculous Shot 1@1.

Playtester