You are out hiking for the day in the state park nearest your town when the weather turns dark, and regrettfully you turn back to get to your car before the rain starts.

An hour and a half later, you get back to the parking lot as the sky begins to open up.  Thankfully, you duck into your car which is the last one on the lot.

The car doesn't start.  Its been acting a bit finicky, but you did not think it was a big deal, and you were waiting for the tax refund to get it really looked at.  Now, you realize the ranger station is five miles away, and the rain is coming down hard.

A quick check of your cell phone assures you of what you expected.  You are out of signal so near to wilderness.  You stuff the cel in your shirt pocket, and grump to yourself.

The rain lightens, and seeing as this is your best chance to avoid sitting here until a ranger patrol happens through, you hop out into the thin rain.  After raising the hood, you begin to look around.  The battery cables seem a little loose.

You lean over for a better look.  Your brand new phone spills out of your pocket, and hits the battery cable.  A great flashing spark with yellow bubbles in it runs from the battery to the wet-ish cel, and into you.  The last thing you remember seeing is your car inexplicably flying downward and back away from you, and then you're laying on your back looking up at storm clouds.

Things get fuzzy.

===========================================================================
You're cold. Very cold. A rock is digging into your back.  The wind is shrilling nearby, and you hear distant thunder.  But other than some minor discomfort, you feel pretty good.  Nothing like you expected to feel after a massive electric shock.

PT

I turn my head and look around as I test out all my limbs and other parts of my body to make sure everything is working ok. My first thought is if I am ok is to get that rock out of my back and I need to check my car and see if a happened to leave a jacket in there. Damn it got cold all of a sudden!
This message was last edited by the player at 12:58, Wed 12 Oct 2005.

Everything seems to be working okay, except you are beginning to shiver.  Except for your mind, because it is having a hard time taking in the picture surrounding you.  Finally, you sit up and shake your head.

The cold, black stones filling valleys, and the snow-capped top of low hills surround you with the only thing remotely the same being the 100% cloud cover.  But there is a sizable difference between a good fall day for walking storm, and this socked in, gusty, wintery day.

At least its not raining.  But this is not in the least like the state park you were hiking.  You do see one tree in the near distance, but its a scrawny defiant thing, not like the lush undergrowth you'd just been sightseeing.

But it is daytime.  You're not sure what time, although a watch insists that its four in the afternoon.

Your jacket is laying nine feet away, but there's no car.  Your other stuff is laying about as well.

PT

I get to my feet rubbing my arms. I begin to pick up my belongings and put them all back into my pack. As soon as I spot my jacket I grab it and shrug into it. I finish putting everthing into my pack and slip it onto my back.

I start to survey my seemingly desolate surroundings hoping to find any clue as to where I am. As I slip my pack onto my back the strap rubs up against my gun. I pull it out and I check it and the extra mags to makes sure they are there and still in good usable condition. After I do that I continue my look around the area.

I'm very confused and more than a little scared. This definitely isn't the mountians near my home. As I turn to look in all directions I am torn between wanting to see some sign of civalization and hoping not to find anything for fear that whatever I do find may put me into a more frightening situation than I already am.

You're a bit warmer, but you weren't planning on twenty degree weather, and your fall jacket is not really up to the challenge by itself.  You button it up as tightly as it will go which helps a fraction more, and then stand there stamping your feet.

Your gun, and all your stuff seems in workable condition, as much as you can tell without actually taking it apart or firing it.

There's no sign of civilization, although you do recognize a smell of salt in the air, and that crashing repeated boomings clicks together in your mind.  You're near a seacoast.

Standing up, you can see a small creek flowing through the midst of the shallow valley you're in.

PT

My hands and feet are starting to get very cold. I rub my hands together in an attempt to warm them up some and look around desperate for someplace warm to go. Spotting a small creek nearby I think of possibly following it in hopes that it would lead to civilazation.

I start in the direction of the creek but then stop upon hearing a faint noise in the distance. What is that? I smile as it comes to me what that noise is. It's waves I hear. There must be a coastline not too far away.

I cock my head listening intently to the sounds of the waves and when I have determined the direction they are coming from I begin to follow the creek that way.

I walk for what seems like hours. My feet are going numb. I keep going hoping against hope that there will be a shack or something there where I can go to get out of the cold air.  I try to keep myself warm by thinking warm thoughts. A cup of hot chocolate and a blanket wrapped around me while I sit in front of a fireplace lit with a beautiful crackling fire....

You follow the creek as it winds back and forth, gets joined by another creek, and slips out of the black rock hills, and into a rolling expanse of acidic smelling, and wet underfoot spongy ground.  Its even colder out here as the wind has little to block it, but you continue.  You have to circle around several bogs filled with water, chunks of vegetable matter, and floating ice.

But you make it down past a series of small waterfalls to the beach.  Its a small enclosed beach, flanked on both sides by cliffs that are pounded by twenty and thirty foot waves.

Its warmer down here, sheltered from the wind, except when a gust comes off from the sea. And then like deliverance you see a familiar red and white can.

Its a crushed and discarded Coca-cola can in the waveline. Impelled by the need for human contact, you scramble toward it.

Rising like ghosts, or figures out of nightmare, large men with automatic weapons pop up out of the sand.  They have ski masks on their faces, and wear solid black, and have a variety of weapons attached to their vests, but the part that most concerns you is the five rifles pointed at you.

"Don't move, missy.  I know good and well what you are, and I won't hesitate to send you on to the next world."

The voice is British, and military.  Its filled with clipped professionalism and determination, and underneath it, something else.  Fear.  Fear of you.

PT

My first thought was Thank god I'm not alone! but my elation quickly turns to fear. I look at the men and their guns trying to swallow back my fear enough to speak. I slowly put my hands up where they can see them making sure not to make any sudden moves. These guys were jumpy and for some reason they didn't like me much.

I open my mouth to speak but no words come out. So many things going through my head at once I can't seem to make sense of anything. Where am I? Why are these men pointing guns at me and what does he mean the next world?

I swallow hard and attempt to speak again. "H-Hi...um I don't think I'm the person you were expecting. I am no threat to you. Could you please lower your weapons?"

I start to shiver whether it's from the cold or fear I don't know. I look each of the men in the face hoping they will see I mean them no harm. Suddenly I notice something in them. These men don't hate me. These men fear me! But why?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Fri 14 Oct 2005.

"Miss. You're exactly the person we've been expecting. We've been tracking you from orbit.  Now by authority of 'is Majesty, and the Parliameant, and the Third Black Addendum to the Safety of the Realm Act, I'm taking you into custody. If you cooperate, and offer no resistance, you will not be harmed, or mistreated.  You have my word as an officer of the Special Air Services. If you do not cooperate fully, I'm authorized, no required to verse you out."

He tosses a pair of black handcuffs on the sand in front of your feet.  You note that he and the others are out of arms reach.  Evidently, he's wary of you enough not to risk your getting a finger on him.

"Carbon-carbon bonding wire in that pair of binders.  Even if you can bench press a thousand, you won't be breaking them."  A man with a Cockney accent says from your right.  The notion that you, a fairly slender female could bench press more than a world heavyweight lifting champion seems utterly ridiculous, but the comment seems to be made in full seriousness.

PT

I look down at the cuffs at my feet and then back up to the one who threw them there. I make no move to pick them up at the moment. In fact I make no move at all. I get the feeling being versed out is something I don't really want to experience. "You've been tracking me in orbit? What does that mean? Where am I and what is it that I am supposed to have done to deserve this treatment? "

I keep my hands visable and away from my body. A sign that I have no intention causing them any problems. "Look I don't even know you guys. For that matter I don't even know where I am. I have no intention of hurting anyone. I have a gun in a hoster on my belt but I have no intention of using it. I have never harmed another person in my life.  Can we be reasonable about this?"

"Colonel?"

You hear a voice from behind you.  Its casual, almost indifferent.  But there is a reminder in it. A reminder...she's dangerous, and a question implied.

*Shall I shoot her?*

You think that if you survive this, you're going to have nightmares about that voice.  Not its cruelty, but the absence of it.

"No, Komodo. Although use your best judgment if things get weird."
He pauses and looks at you, and with his autorifle still pointed at your chest he looks at a watch.

"I can give you five minutes to make up your mind. Thats as much leeway as my orders give me. I've already introduced myself, and my men. More precisely, I am nicked King Cobra, head of the Reptile House special operations team out of the SAS, and assigned to MI-5 for Operation Worldwalker which involves picking up people like you.

You are on the Northern coast of Scotland. I'll let you have a newspaper later so you can discern the timeline differences.

As to what it means to be tracked from orbit, well, lets just say, that we have means of identifying your arrival, and with the scriff in your bloodstream, you cannot hide.  Not from a satellite net."

He holds out a palmpad, and on it, you see a glowing figure that might be you surrounded by some darker figures which might be your captors.

Scriff..the name is vaguely familiar.  Oh, yeah, it was some new tech in your new cel-phone.  He continues on.

"Unfortunately, I cannot be 'reasonable'. For one, I am intimately familiar with how dangerous and deceptive and unpredictable you lot can be. I've lost three men to separate versers who I had pinned down like you, and none of them used something as simple and nice as a pistol to do it. Anaconda still screams every morning when he wakes up.  And one looked even more harmless than you."

Here his look changes as if he holds the injury to his man against you.

 "For two, if I am as you say, reasonable, I will be guilty of treason, and if I am lucky, I will get twenty years hard labor.

I promise no harm will come to you. We merely require that you work with MI-5 in the defence of the King and Country.  If such is not acceptable, then my men are very good shots,and it won't hurt a bit.

On the other hand, I have a heated helicopter, a warm Burberry trenchcoat, and hot soup made by my wife.  Me, I'd take the deal, you lot get paid better than I do, even.

Now, you have three minutes..."

Playtester
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:07, Sat 15 Oct 2005.

I jump a little as someone speaks behind me. A chill runs down my spine at the lack of emotion in that voice.  My god what is happening to me!

I pale a little as I listen to the colonel talk. It sounds like something off the SciFi channel. It can't be real yet it must be because I'm here living it. As he continue on with his talk I slowly come to the realization that I have only two choices put on the cuffs or die.

I slowly bend over to pick up the cuffs trying not to make any sudden moves. I pick them up and snap them on my wrists praying the entire time that I am making the right choice. I stand up and look at the colonel hoping that I won't later wish I had let them kill me.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:18, Sat 15 Oct 2005.

He nods as if to assure you it was the right choice.  Then he speaks into a mike on his vest.

"Package secured. Bring up the transport."

He turns back to you as one of his men drapes a long and heavy trenchcoat over your shoulders.  Instantly, you feel warmer, until a gust circles and slaps you in the chest. Still it helps.

Behind him, a humming noise, and a large forty foot long helicopter with RAF symbols painted on it, floats around a cliff face, and sets down.  You could still talk, the thing makes so little noise.

"Verser tech. We still don't understand the physics of it.  Only one like it in the world."

They hustle you on board, and make good on their promises. A cup of chicken soup, and a London Telegraph newspaper.

The ground is rushing beneath you, and the cabin is quiet and warm except for King Cobra making some sort of report quietly to what sounds like HQ.

"Yes, C. Package wrapped up. Minor difficulties. No injuries." Pause. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

He signs off, and begins making himself a cup of soup from the same canister you had.  One guy opens up a magazine, and another two break out some cards, but one keeps an eye on you.

PT

I jump in surprise as a coat is suddenly dropped on my shoulders but then with a sigh of relief I snuggle into it's warmth. Suddenly so quickly I don't have time to think about what's happened a helicopter unlike any I have ever seen before shows up and I am being hustled aboard it.

I take a sip of the soup that was put into my hands and look around at the guys who only minutes ago had their guns sighted on me. They all seem to be so much calmer now. I look at the cuffs on my wrists. I don't see anything special about them but their presence sure seems to give these guys some sense of security.

I sit back to enjoy my soup and crack open the newspaper. Hopefully it will give me some idea of what is going on. From comments made and conversations going on I am comforted in the fact that at least I seem to be still on earth.

The Telegraph is filled with worries about terrorists, and gov't overreaching, and violent soccer games, and violent demonstrations, and it could be your world except they talk about His Majesty Richard the Sixth, King of England, Prime Minister Lady Rose McClaren, and about President Joe Lieberman of America.

Granted, the world seems a little more violent than what you are used to, but then that could be simply part of reading another nation's newspaper. And the tone seems a bit less polite than the studied neutrality of an American paper.  You have a hard time imagining the New York Times labelling a political foe, a "blinking idiot".  And the Telegraph seems to be on the end toward American Conservative of the political spectrum with some differences.

There's an article about crime rates continuing their steady rise.  There's another one about the Prime Minister of Bahrain returning from a vacation.

Your watcher seeing you reading that one snickers.

"Aye, a vacation, with a scarf around his head, and a slimming diet of creek water and moldy bread.  Poor fellow. But some of your buddies, Captain Chris and Lady Anne rescued him.  Too bad they didn't survive, got versed out, as you lot say, but I expect they are causing trouble for bad guys somewhere else."

Out the window, you can see London spreading out beneath your gaze.

PT

My eyes widen at seeing the President Joe Lieberman or America. I look up at the Colonel "Seems to be a rather violent world you live in Colonel."

I take a sip of my soup  "Colonel...What is a verser? And why are you all so afraid of them?" I take another drink of my soup. It's good soup and who knows when my next good meal will be.

"Yes, ma'am. There's all sorts of nutcases loose to kill and maim the innocent.  Its our job to make sure they choose another career occupation."

He sighs.

"I wouldn't say we fear the versers, exactly, but from what I hear, very few universes catch versers as quickly as ours does, in fact, most seem unawares of them.  And so they get irritated at us, and your typical verser has all sorts of ways to express their irritation."

He looks over at his crew.  They pipe up one at a time.

"The Princess from Alf Lapskjar could just touch you, and you felt like you were dying inside."
"Burn you alive by looking at you. And his wife could shoot a card out of your mouth at a hundred feet with that pistol of hers."
"Read your mind. And worse, he was about the scariest guy I've met. He looked you in the eye, and you felt like..."
"Saw the Kid take on four guys with that little stick of his, and he was feeling charitable. He left one of them alive."
"We had her dead to rights, and still she got out her five foot sword, and chopped off Hugh's arm before we could pull the trigger. Course then, she said, I sense you are of good will, and reattached it before she versed out."
"The Alchemist said when we asked him how he got into the vault...oh, I walked through the wall. That's impossible, but we still don't know how he got in."

The Colonel holds up his hand.
"Worse thing is that many versers don't care if they die. After all, you're immortal so a little pain, and bam, you're somewhere else. A person like that is very hard to stop."

PT

I listen to their stories with some disbelief. They actually think I have some kind of special powers? I open my mouth to dispute that fact but then I close my mouth quickly. Why should I tell them any different. Could work to my advantage if they think I can take them out so easily.

I get the feeling though that there is something these guys aren't telling me. I mean why would the versers make life more difficult for themselves by attacking the citizens of the the world.

I lean my head back and close my eyes trying to process everything I've heard thus far. Maybe it's the warmth of the coat or just pure exhaustion I don't know but as I sit there with my eyes closed I begin to get very sleepy. I open my eyes not wanting to give in to my exhaustion but it's no use I just can't seem to stay awake any longer. I can hear someone saying something but I'm unable to make out the words as I drift off to sleep...

You drift off, the warmth, the vibration soothing you, after the nearly four hours of hiking.  And too suddenly, you hear...

"Hey wake up."  The air is chill.  The helicopter has stopped moving, and its doors are open.  It feels like you just fell asleep a minute ago.  "Welcome to Claude's Corral for Wayward Versers."

A thin, intensely focused, and well muscled young guy looks up at you with a helpful hand extended.  He's not handsome, and has some acne scars, but he seems friendly and unafraid.  His life seems to be in his eyes which are disconcertingly direct.  He doesn't look like some superman verser, other than being in very good shape, and he even doesn't dress all that well favoring what could be called Working Class Blue Jeans Chic.

"They call me John Walker, from my other nick The Walking Man. Other than you, and Clarence our friendly little slavemaster, we're the only versers in London right now, so I'm to be your host."

But you see the other, heavily armed SAS troopers giving him a respectful nod as they climb out of the copter. He reaches out, and taps your cuffs. They spring open.

PT

Taking his hand I climb out of the helicopter. "Hello I'm Alexis" I watch the cuffs fall off of my wrists and look up at him in surprise "How'd you do that?" Without waiting for a response I walk past him a little ways I need to stretch my legs and besides if gives me a chance to take a look around.

He shrugs and says off-handedly.

"Simple telekinesis plus a basic knowledge of lockpicking.  Five pounds of pressure in the right location, and it springs open. You can't do much more complicated than that in this universe anyways.  Not that I know much more than that in TK."

You walk around the roof of the building while he trails you at a distance.  Its a golden marble, with stone lions on each corner of it, and it reaches eight stories from the city streets beneath you.

Looking out, you can see London Bridge, and Trafalgar's Square, and the River Thames.  Looking back at him where he stands ten feet away, he shrugs, willing to wait with you out in the chill air.

"It is nice to be in a civilized universe at least."

PT

My head still reeling from all that's happened I have a hard time taking everthing in. I almost flinch everytime I hear the words this universe or that universe as it reminds me each time that I am somewhere other than my home.

As I walk back to John ready to go whereever it is he is taking me, I look around to see if the colonel and his men are still here.  "What is the this place? What is a verser? Why do the people here dislike versers so much? How..." I suddenly realize I am rattling on and stop looking at John sheepishly "Umm...Sorry. Let's go."

He laughs shortly as he takes you to a small shed, through a door, and turns a mop handle head around.  The floor sinks beneath you both.

"No biggie, Alexis, I got that right, right? From the top. This is an office of MI-5. Most versers call it Claude's Corral." He pauses as he considers your second question.

"Drat. Is this your first transition? OK. For me, I got electrocuted by some idiot with a scriff-enhanced XBox and a 44 oz. slushie. I wake up in Naga World, orange grass, pschyo laser shooting plants. I die, burned up ten hours later. Spend a couple months in the 1920's chasing down rumors of the Mythos, learn tk, die again after meeting... Her. Visit Northgate City, and try to learn to be a superhero. Fly a plane filled with macro-toxin far out to sea. Next world.  But I picked up a cool gun, and a kevlar jacket.  Anyways, I met some samurai jerks, and so became a ninja. It was fun until I challenged a samurai to a duel...bad idea. I had no idea how good they were.  But I managed to kill him anyways by jumping with him off the bridge. I wake up here, and lead the Reptile House team on a merry chase through the Sahara for like two weeks, and thats why they call me the Walking Man because I walked those SAS boys into the ground.  Now, I'm a spy, with a license to kill, no lie, a Jaguar with a twelve cylinder that can run up to 180 mph which I tested, and some nifty toys like a pen laser.

You got something in your blood that makes you reform in another universe if you die. They call it scriff. I don't understand it yet, but hey, I'm young, scratch that, I'm immortal. I will understand it, just not this century.

I don't think they dislike us, Alexis. We are a resource. You've been drafted for a good cause, and offered a golden cage. Some versers don't like the deal, and really object in nasty ways. If I wanted to, I could do some serious damage before versing out. I don't like the drafted part, but then I really hate terrorists with nerve gas, so I go along. When Claude gets back from talking to the PM, I'll let him explain it more."

The door to the elevator opens, and he leads you down to a room.  He opens the door, and it looks expansive, and nice, in an impersonal way.  More of a suite than just a room.

"Yours. This is the verser hallway."  He shrugs, giving you a piercing glance, trying to figure out your reaction to all this.

PT

I look around the room. Well it's not home but from what I'd heard so far it could be worse. I look at John and smile. "I guess if I gotta be stuck in another universe I got one of the better ones huh?"

I walk in the door and set my pack on a small table just inside. "Ok I'm assuming since you are still bouncing around universes there is no way out of this mess so I might as well make the best of it."

I turn to look at him "You are gonna be around right? I mean if I have no choice but to make the best of this I'd like to learn some tricks from someone who's obviously got some experience with it."

He smiles suddenly like a switch flicked on, and you can see him understand.

"You really are new! Yes, unless something crazy happens, I'll be around. Um, I talked to one of the ancient versers, guy named Marcoe, he said there's no way home, and he's been trying for centuries.

I'll be mostly in the dojo. Um, look, close your eyes, this isn't what it sounds like, by the way, now relax."

Skeptically, you do it. You might not if he was standing next to you.

"You should be able to know where your stuff is.  Feel it in your gut, and feel my presence. And even possibly all the ones on this earth, I don't know."

And suddenly you can feel a compass in your stomach, an instinct that says "Something thatta way".  One is pointing to your table which is covered with your gear, and the other is to his voice.

He shuffles left and right a few yards, and you can follow him with it.

PT

PT

I stand there for a minute with my eyes shut getting used to the feeling. Then I open my eyes with a smile. "Wow! That's so cool. Thanks!"

I run my hand through my hair trying to figure out where to start. "Where's the dojo? It probably wouldn't hurt if I made use of it myself. Oh and is someoone going to show me where things are around here. Like where to go to eat and I'm probably going to need some more clothes." I suddenly frown Um..but I don't have much money. Are things expensive here?"

"Lets go visit Documentation."

Mystified, you follow him down to a bomb-proof door, and down a spiral set of stairs, lab and suit coated people you pass nod respectfully at both of you. And behind you you hear whispers.

"Is she the new one?"

Through another heavy door, and a voice scan check.

"Walker and guest."

"Welcome versers." A computer voice responds.

You walk into an almost clean room atmosphere, except for the smell of paper and ink, and glues.  At least a dozen people are working in this large space over drafting tables, or at computers.

A tall, thin, elegant man half dances over to you.

"Ah the new arrival, charmed to meet you my dear, and what will she be having."

"The works."

"Excellent. I think three credit cards, one five thousand, one thirty thousand, and one a half-million credit limit chargeable to the Crown as always, but do try not to hurt us poor taxpayers too much, two gas cards just to look authentic, a driver's license, and any sundry permits required by an identity should do. Dear me, a gun license of course, and a passport. But how many identities?"

You're gaping at this whirlwind of a man.

"Identities. He means, false names. Can't infiltrate dictatorships without false ID's. After all my real name isn't John Walker. I have two others I keep as spares."  "John" says.

PT

I follow John down through the hallways, doors, and rooms hoping I will be able to find my way back.  I look around as we walk hoping to gather and retain as much information as possible.

I can't help but stare at the tall thin man half dancing towards me. Then he and John start talking.  I hurry to close my suddenly dropping jaw as I listen to him talking about credit cards, gas cards, Id's etc.. "Identities?" I repeat half stunned.  I swallow hard "Uh..well I don't know."  I turn to look at John "Any suggestions?"

The Chief Documentarian smiles, and answers first.

"Ah, we have many names.  It seems some versers choose names from movies or series in their home timelines. I've heard detailed plot summaries of something called James Bond, and Man from Uncle, and La Femme Nikita, and Charlie's Angels."

John just shrugs, and gives you a soft smile.

PT

I kind of half smile "Oh yeah I know those movies." I look from John to the Cheif Documentarian "Wait a minute, are you telling me you guys have never heard of James Bond?"

I'm suddenly anxious to see what this world is like and go spend some money. I've never had that much money just handed to me before. Besides I really needed a shower and some fresh clothes. "Uh you just want me to pick some names then? Or are you going to pick them for me?"

"They make movies based on sitcoms instead, it seems."  John says.  "Gilligan's Island One through Four are very good, although Three isn't as good as the rest.  But the Eight is Enough movie made me want to tear my eyeballs out."

"You pick them. We prefer three to five sets of names. You can add whatever detail you wish to their backstories."  The Chief Documentarian says spinning a pencil through his fingers.  He seems a man who cannot stop moving.  John on the other hand looks like he could stand still for the next five hours with no protest. The rest of the room is filled with craftspeople working at their chosen trade of lying with paper and plastic, but occasionally someone "casually" glances your way.  It seems you're a "celebrity" of sorts.

PT

I glance around an catch a couple of people stealing glances of their own. I look at the Cheif Documentarian blushing. "Why are they so interested in me? Surely they've seen versers before."

He smiles.

"Sure, they've seen versers, but not that many. On average, we get maybe two a year coming in, and err, not all make it to this office."  He looks a bit uncomfortable.

And then he brightens.

"Sometime you ought to come by and see my collection of coins, especially the ones from other realities. I'm fondest of the solid silver Ceres Asteroid Dollar minted in 2115, although I also like the Tsar of all the Russias minted in Londongrad in 1892."  He looks hopefully at you, wondering if you have a coin for his collection.

"Good gracious, what a mooch."  John says steering you to the door with a small laugh.

I grin at the Chief's obvious hint as I follow John's lead out of the office. Maybe once I get used to this place I'll come back and take him up on that viewing of his collection but for now..."Ok so what's next?" I ask John as we exit the room.

John talks to you a bit, and after you mention that you've a longing for a shower, and some fresh clothes, he sends for a maid, and takes you back to your room.

"I'll be back in an hour, kay?"

You nod, and go off to enjoy civilization.  The maid comes back, with your pile of neatly dry-cleaned clothing, a receipt for you to sign, and unexpectedly some tea and sandwhiches plus three fake id's.
s.

"You were looking like I feel after a double shift."  She says taking the receipt.  "John Walker got called away. Some problem downtown."

After you finish, the maid, Helen Jamison, takes you down to the lobby where a cabby is waiting outside.

"Just tell any cabby you want to go to Parsifal House to get back."

PT

I stand in the shower for a good 20 minutes just letting the water pour over me. It felt so good I almost didn't want to get out. But I was sure I had things to do and John was due back soon. So I drug myself out of the shower and donned my freshly washed clothes. I then go out to enjoy the tea and sandwiched the maid left when she delivered my clean clothes.

I smiled and sat back to relax a bit while I finished up my meal. I could really get used to this pampering. What worried me though was what was going to be expected from me in return. Ah well I'll worry about that when the time comes for now I'm gonna enjoy it. I slip the three fake ID's into the little card case I keep in my pocket along with the credit cardsand fllow the maid downstairs.

I look at the row of cabbies dissapointed that John couldn't make it back. I thank  Helen for her help and go over and talk to one of them "I need a new wardrobe. Take me to the most fashionable shop in the area please." Might as well start with my wardrobe.

"Right you are, miss. Unless I'm missing my guess, you want clothes for yourself, and not your man.  Otherwise I'd be taking you to Brooks Brothers, but I recommend every London shopping trip should start at Harrod's."

He whips you through the streets expertly, nearly scraping a fender off a double-decker bus, and deposits you in front of the largest and swankest department store in the world.  A suited bellman helps you from your car, and asks you if you need anything.

Seven stories, one million square feet, and a gigantic Baroque dome over it all.  Harrods' motto is the best of everything from everywhere.

You walk in and see in a display case on your right a pair of diamond encrusted slippers (turning the tag reveals a price of a million pounds), and a pair of very attentive security guards keep you in their eyes until you walk on to the Egyptian Escalator which looks like what the Pharaoh would have made, if he had escalators.  As you go up with the thick crowd, opera singers serenade the shoppers with something from Cyrano de Bergerac.

PT

I look around in awe. Who would have thought I'd ever be shopping a Harrod's. What did he mean start at Harrod's you can find anything you want here I think.

I head to the ladies clothing area and start looking around hoping I can find a couple of outfits that won't max out my $500,000 credit card. I pick out several pairs of the most expensive denims I have ever owned, and some simple but comfortable tops to go with them. Then I go to the shoe department and select a couple of pairs a sneakers to complete the sets.

Next I head to the eveningwear section. Doesn't hurt to be prepared for that special night out. Hopefully I'll get one of those while I'm here. I look through the racks and find several dresses that I just love but force myself to pass on in attenpt to save money (old habits die hard I guess) I finally selct 3 gorgeous gowns stragically cut to show just the right amount os skin to be glamourous yet tastful. And they aren't priced too badly..For Harrod's. Back to the shoe department for some dress shoes to go with the dresses. As I'm at the shoe department I spot the handbags and stop over to pick out a couple for evening and one  for casual use.

Now for the lingerie. I walk into the lingerie department. Let's see several pairs of these, several of those, a couple of these, several pairs of these, and  a few pretty lacy sets to wear with those gorgeous gowns.

I pick up a a casual jacket and a coat to wear over the dresses.  Some jewlery to go with the formalwear. And I think I'm ready to go. I look at my watch and am shocked to realize I have been here for over 3 hours already. I always hated to shop. My shopping was usually in and out as quickly as possible and usually at Wal-mart. I never thought I see the day I'd enjoy shopping so much.

having paid for everything as I went I was ready to leave. I head down that fancy esculator to the main floor. I stop and look around with a smile. Just a few extras.. a bottle of my favorite perfume (that I never bought because it's to expensive if I was lucky I got it for a gift), some special blend tea, and some chocolates.

I take on last look around the store and then I wisk out the door with a grin on my face and a man following me carrying my packages. Amazing the service you get when you're ready to spend lots of money. I look up and down the street for a taxi to wave down.

You also get measured by a tailor who informs you that your choices should be ready by tommorrow.  So you leave the glamorous dresses with the store to be altered.

Upon leaving, a bellman flags down a cabby by using a whistle, and a cabby slips up to your curb.  Getting in, he asks you the obvious question.

"Where to, miss?  Enjoy a little London shopping, I see.  Well, good for you.  I let my little wifey come here every time she's feeling blue. Works a treat. And gives me time to slip down to the pub for a game of backgammon. So we're both happy."  The wrinkles in his face are mostly smile wrinkles, you can see as he cranes his head back to check on his new passenger.

PT

After the man deposits my bags in the cab I slide in "Parsifal House please." I tell the cabbie. I settle back to enjoy the scenery as we move along the streets.

The cab pulls up to the Parsifal House and I hand my card to the driver to pay for the ride. Then I get out of the cab and start pulling out bags and boxes. I reach to grab a bag and a box falls off my stack. How on earth was that man able to carry all this stuff I wonder as I start all over trying to figure out how I'm gonna get everything up to my room.

As you ponder your problem, a well-dressed gentleman gets out of a limosine, and waves off his bodyguards.  He then reaches over, and divides the pile in two.

"Shall I take you up to your room, Alexis?"

You look surprised at him, and then see the security snapping out rigid salutes.  And you realize this is "C", or Clarence Bevridge, architect and manager of the Verser Spy Program for MI-5.

He looks young, and he moves with the casual ease of a dancer, but while his voice is polite, looking into his eyes you see a capacity for relentlessness that borders on the superhuman.  And in talking to him for several minutes, you realize that you know no more about him than when you started, so skillfully were your questions turned aside, but that he knows a lot more about you.

Outside your room, he stops and puts your packages on the floor.

"I do hope you enjoy your stay in Parsifal House. And I would practise as much as possible, one never knows what tommorrow may bring, or if there will be a tommorrow, here anyways. And if you have any special connections with the gods, I wouldn't mind you exercising them on the behalf of a young fellow by the name of Adam."

PT

Her head spinning and feeling like she'd just been very skillfully pumped for information Alexis realized She knew no more about this man than she did before their conversation. This guy is good, real good. No wonder he is in charge of things around here there isn't much that escapes him.

"Practice and training sounds like a very good idea. I had planned on starting on that just as soon as I had gotten the proper wardrobe. Thankfully she had remembered to get some workout clothes before she left the store. "Is there a map or guide or something to show me what facilities are available and where they are?"

Alexis nods her head. "If you mean prayer I certianly will do that."

He tells you how to call up the information on the computer monitor in your room.  It provides a map to the whole building, except for a few areas which are marked as off-limits.

"Alexis, we offer you a chance to be trained and equipped within reason with whatever you're willing to try.  We have a dojo with a half-dozen masters on retainer, a shooting range, a medical research program if you'd like to further the advance of cybernetics or vaccine research.  We have an experimental Ebola vaccine that one verser has already tested.  We also have very cordial relations with a number of nearby colleges and universities so that you could simply begin auditing a class tommorrow if you like.

If you'd like equipment to aid you in serving His Majesties' government, again, we would be glad to assist.  Nothing like a pen laser, a pair of x-ray spectacles, and a hydraullically pumped stilletto in the bottom of a pair of high heels to even the odds."

OOC: Time to start figuring out what you would like to study, and what cool spy gear you'd like.  I'm going to start another thread for this discussion.

PT

I stare at the screen looking at all my options. Wow! I guess I better get myself a schedule set up. "Concidering I don't don't know what to expect here or in other universes, should I get versed out somehow, I want to learn as much as possible in what time I've got." I study the listings. "I definately want to learn some martial arts. I need to  go to the dojo and see what will be best for me. And weapons training I need to check out what's available there. And equipment I want to go and see what kinds of things you have available." I'm starting to get excited. I look up at C. "Umm...How much time do I have before dinner?. And how late are the facilities open?" I lean back in my chair with a sigh "I have so much to do and learn."

"Dinner in the dining room is at six, two more hours, but you can go by the cafeteria at any time.  The dining room is semi-formal. A good business suit, or dress would be suitable.

Of course, there are a number of nearby restauraunts, including one that was started by a verser about ten years ago.  Its still in business, even if he isn't around here.  Guy named Bob, now he was a scary one, but a very good cook.

The dojo is open 24/7 although most of its students should be finished for the day in a few hours.

There is always someone on duty in every department all the time. And major departments have a night crew.  Terrorists don't take vacations, and neither do we.

But most of the work is done from nine to seven.  You have time if you want to visit the dojo and the Special Weapon Lab."

PT

Great I'll run down there and check things out!  I frown trying to remember if I picked up anything semiformal on my shopping trip. Ah yes I remember I did get some more casual dresses. "Is it required that I be at dinner everyday?"

He laughs, and shakes his head.

"I can track you to within one foot anywhere on this planet. And if you leave London, you'll be carrying a special 'cel' phone that is never 'out of area'.  We prefer you stay in the London area most of the time, but if you need a week in the Bermudas we might be able to swing things."

"That is one of the benefits of using a verser. We always know where they are, but our enemies don't.  And we always know if they suffered a terminal failure."

He nods, and leaves.

You head on down to the dojo.  About a dozen students, varying from overweight janitors to trim and muscled black belts are practising.  And then one of the janitors walks over to you.

"Miss Alexis.  A pleasure. I am Master Sun-da." He says it 'zeun-da'. He bows gracefully.  "Are you interested in the teachings of Ninjutsu or Preying Mantis style Kung-fu? If so, I would be your teacher.  Ninjutsu focuses on stealth, and this world's Preying Mantis focuses on nerve strikes, disabling lock holds, and choke holds.  I find the two arts work together well although some think they overlap too much."

PT

Just because I don't know what else to do I bow back slightly. Wondering just how everyone seems to know my name but not saying anything about it I smile. Hello.  Yes I am interested in both of them if possible." I watch the students for a few minutes. "How much training each day would be required for me to learn this?"

"Let us start with an hour, and then once you are stronger, we will add another hour. You may begin tonight if you wish."

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

Later you make it down to the Special Weapons Lab.  A couple dozen people are experimenting with clever and occasionally goofy ways to disarm (literally and not so literally), and destroy.

One that catches your eye,and they are having a hard time with is a car that can shoot forth its bumper as a one-use projectile to slam into another car.  It keeps flying over the target car, or under the target car, a small and battered looking Yugo.

A balding scientist with his hands full of the guts of a machine sees you, and flips over a sheet on a nearby table.

"Miss Alexis. Welcome. What can we do for you? Laser pen? Stilletto high heels? An umbrella that shoots out nerve toxin?  Or my personal favorite, a holographic guard dog with a motion detector?  Anything? Please test us.  We love making new toys."

PT

After an hour with Master Sun-da I had muscles I never knew I had aching. But I was determined to learn those moves so I would be back tomorrow night.

I head on down to the Special Weapons Lab to see what neat toys they have. I'm not dissapointed. I look at the list of options he gives me. It's quite extensive including make-up that does more than mske you look good. I look up at him and grin "How about one of everything? Oh wait I may want some duplicates of those special keys."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Fri 21 Oct 2005.

The night passes, and next morning you are wondering over a breakfast of bacon, cheese omellette, sausage, kippers, tea, and pudding what you should study in addition to your Ninjutsu classes.

Your muscles are still sore, but not bad.


PT

After I finish my breakfast I go over to the computer and bring up the maps and guides again. Time to get started on some training. I start going over in my head what I need to learn.

1) Training in gun combat. I can handle a pistol but it wouldn't hurt to learn how to use some other types of guns and weapons. Maybe some demolitions too.

2) Basic espionage skills IE stealth, breaking and entering, concealment, Cryptography.

3) maybe some basic first aid and increasing my survival skills for all types of envirnments.

I take some notes on who to see and where to find them and head out go to talk to them.

At your first stop, they listen, and then get you outfitted with a small Uzi with a twenty round clip and a Sykes-Fairbairn commando knife.  The gun range director, a grizzled and limping ex-Sgt. with a gentle smile, sets you up for an appointment at the Gunn Farm outside London later that week so you can blow some stuff up.

He hands you a couple books. One on knife combat, and the other on electrical detonation systems.

The hunt for an expert in b&e takes you down to the basement to a guarded chamber where a too quick to smile young fellow, the sort you just know is up to no good, nods.  As you leave, the guard asks you if you have everything. Checking, you find your wallet is missing from your purse.

PT

I look up at the guard my face slightly red and telling my self that from now on I leave my purse in my room. "Um...I guess I have a lot to learn yet.  It seems my wallet is missing. I think I better go back and see my friend in there."

You walk back into the small room which is filled with cardboard boxes along two walls, and a desk, and a dozen safes line the back wall, and the last wall, more to his right is filled with pictures of various treasures.

Behind the plain brown desk, a smirking young man is opening up an XBox game from within its package.

He looks up at you with only the barest of politenss as he holds back obvious laughter.

"Is there a problem? Something I can help you with?"  He says, smiling like butter would not melt in his mouth.

PT

I smile back at him a bit sarcastically "Yes there is.  You can give me back my wallet intact of course." I stand there with my hand out vowing to someday to pay him back for this little stunt. "And also as let's say an apology for wasting time I could be using for training to come back in here I'd like to have a descent lockpick set. You wouldn't have one laying around would you?"

He pulls out a lockpick set, and holds it up to you.

"Now missy, no need to get all harsh on me.  I was just hoping to see some of that verser magic.  You know, find stuff thats hidden."  He whines a bit.

The guard chuckles harshly behind you.

"Tommy here was known for breaking into sick folk's houses."

"But they say I have a genuine gift, and I can work off my time down here, helping King and Country. That makes me a patriot."  Tom replies with a wounded expression on his face.


PT

I take the lockpick set and my wallet and after checking to be sure everything is there I put them into my purse. "Thank you. Sorry to disappoint you about the verser magic.  Take my advice don't mess with versers the next one may not be as forgiving as me." I turn and walk out of the room.

I head up to my room to leave my purse somewhere safe. Then I head over to see about a couple of classes at the university. I'm thinking Photopraphy, Cryptography and maybe see what computer sciences has to offer. Might be helpful to learn how to hack into computers.  While I'm in the area I'll stop at the library and see if they have any books on lockpicking.

He looks chastened, and subdued with the guard laughing at him as you leave.

You arrange for a class in Photography at the St. Davies College.  You also start taking two classes in Cryptography there.  One is a Practical, which is to say, they take you through the use of such things.  The other is math, and that is part of what will give you a long-term skill at breaking them for yourself, and understanding the logic behind crypto decisions.

The campus is beautiful, with the oldest stone building, a stone chapel dating back to 1580.  Its peaceful green lawns about the size of a yard, and a faculty that is less than fifty, and a student body capped out at three hundred.  But you mention Parsifal House, and suddenly they find a place for you in whatever classes you want.

The computer class begins teaching you how to take apart, and put back together computers.  Most of the people in the Kim Johnson Technical are interested in becoming computer techs.  The building is an old strip mall, partially converted, and the teachers are more there to answer questions than to teach, and they spend most of their time working on their own projects.  But you have a book, a computer, a design program, and several computers to take apart and upgrade.

And yes, Parsifal House library has about a dozen books on lockpicking. In order to get into the library, you need a Top Secret security clearance, but after verifying your identity, they let you in.

PT

After a long day of classes and research at the library I head home with my books. I walk into my room and drop into a chair exhausted. I only take about 15 mins to catch my breath and then I get ready to head to the dojo for my lessons there.

After my lessons at the dojo I head back to my room for a hot shower to soothe my aching muscles. Then I dress for dinner then I head to the dining room. Hopefully I will find others there who can help me increase my knowledge of this whole verser thing and in particular this world. There is still so much I don't know.

You walk into a nice dining hall, with several long tables, covered by tablecloths,and lighted by candles, and a head table.  You are wondering where to sit, when you feel a tap on your shoulder.  Looking about, you see no one near you, and then on the far side of the room, you see a single, decisive wave.

Its John Walker.

You make your way over to him, and find him sitting with two others.  He is being aware of his surroundings, and maintaining an expressionless face while sitting rigidly upright in the heavy wooden chair that each of the crowd of nearly a hundred possess.

The other two look vastly dissimiliar.  One is an Asian young woman, polished, charming, and doing her best to make everyone comfortable.  The other is a man in Russian Army uniform who is drinking the wine at the table with the kind of enthusiasm that lets you see long practise.

"I am Esther Sung. I'm a social skills coach at Parsifal House.  I've heard so much about you already.  You seem to be fitting in very well..."

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

"I..Corporal Vladimir Radicheev, Russian Army. 17th Sucacray Division. This place. Make no sense."  His broken English, combine with his broken and yellow teeth to spell out a poor country of origin.

PT

"Hello John. " I smile at Esther and Vladmir "Hello" Great my first night at the dinner table and I get to sit with the social graces teacher. I hope I don't make a fool of myself. I look at the chairs deciding on which one I should sit in. Feeling like a fool just standing there I finally just pick a chair and sit.

I'm beginning to realize I don't have many secrets around here. Makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I almost wonder if I should search my room for bugs and such.

"M..er Ms. Jung? I'm sure I can learn a lot from you. I've got a pretty busy schedule but I'd like to try and squezze some time in with you."

I turn my attention to John "You've been pretty Scarce lately. Busy?"

I sit with my hands folded in my lap waiting to follow someone else's lead on how to preceed with dinner.

Vladimir stands smoothly, and pulls out a chair for you.

"Is part of my evil Communist scheme to get pretty girl next to me." He says with a rolling, deep laugh.  He smiles to show that he is just being friendly.

There follows a toast (wine or grape juice Esther offers) by the whole room to the King.

"The King!" Everyone stands, and takes a sip, except Vladimir who takes a gulp.

And you notice after sitting down that John is watching Esther out of the corner of his eye, and copying her as she puts on a napkin, and that she deftly reaches over and straightens out his napkin to match hers.

"That would be nice, Miss Alexis. My office is on the third floor, or I can come by and visit you.  Or we can simply meet at meals.  Its not hard to learn to blend in with the jet set. Very easy. I started as a dockworker's daughter, playing stickball in teh street, which I still like to do."

John then turns to you after you finish talking to Esther.

"I had to fly to Washington to use TK on a delicate box.  Fly in, five minutes of work, go see the Mall, fly out. Pretty boring actually."

PT

Just because I don't want to be rude I take the chair offered giving Vladmir a small smile.  "Thank you"

I follow Esthers lead putting on a napkin. "My schedule is pretty hectic. I'll try to get up to see you or make it to dinner."

Sorry but I'm still trying to learn all these abbreviations you guys use.  Use TK on a delicate box? What is that?"

"Oh, telekinesis.  Mind over matter.  Delicate is just slang by me." He shrugs, a bit embarrassed.  "I mean something rigged to explode if messed with, and something that has to be kept secret.  In other words a delicate situation."

The meal proceeds onward with waiters coming out to ask you along with everyone else whether they want the roast beef, the salmon, or the chicken marselliase.

"So, Miss Alexis, what do you think so far?"  Esther Sung asks you, pausing in the midst of precisely disecting her baked salmon that lays amidst steamed brocolli and carrots.

PT

I look at John in surprise "You mean you can disarm an explosive device with your mind?" I pause as a thought runs through my mind "Do all versers have that talent?"

I take a bite of my salmon and discover that it may possibly be the best salmon I've had in quite some time.

May attention is captured by Esther question. I don't immediatly answer as I'm not sure she's asking about being a verser, or just this world, or simply the food. "I swallow my bite of salmon "Being a verser? I'm still trying to figure out exactly what that is. I suppose if I have to be anywhere but home this world is probably better than most. The salmon is certianly very good. I do miss my family and friends though." I look down at my plate and push my food a bit with my fork. Then I look back up at them all "What happened to them. Are they still there? Am I still there? Did I die or just disappear in their eyes?"

John puts his fork down as you continue to eat a meal that puts the lie to all the claims of bad English cookery.

"I can exert around five pounds of force in this universe.  A single directional pulse or hold. If that means holding two spring-loaded wires apart while someone else unscrews the back of a briefcase, then yes.

All versers? I haven't met that many. Marcoe certainly could.  From what I hear, Tadeusz could move an asteroid with his mind.  I don't know if Adam Jhiaxus can.  Once he gets back, you can ask him.

Vladimir?"

He turns to the Russian on your left.

"No, not I. I am a suceraye, a sorcerer. I can speak to the Rodina, Holy Mother Russia, and ask her to send me the strength to bring her sons back to life, of a sort, in order to fight the evil Nazi invaders, and their trolls."  He pauses sadly, and takes a big gulp.  "But it doesn't work here. Here I only have my rifle.  A Dragunov. Pretty thing."

The Red Army sorcerer looks sadly down into his empty cup.

Esther looks into the distance, and makes a decision.

"I saw one verser 'verse out' as they say.  He had taken the experimental Ebola vaccine, an earlier form, it did not work that well. Once he, well, all of a sudden, he was gone.  There was only a small sprinkling of dust in the air where he had been.

As to your world, all the versers I've ever asked say its still there. After all, did this world disappear when Jake Gunn versed out after a bad dose of vaccine. No, we are still here."

PT

I put down my fork "I don't feel any different than I did in my world." I look at the others with questioning eyes "How does a verser dicover their talents.? As far as I know I don't have any."

I sigh "I feel so lost right now. You guys seem to be so focused. Like you know exactly what's going on at all times.  I feel like I am just stumbling along figuring things out as they come and things could get out of control very quickly and easily."

I pick up my fork and smile a little "Sorry I didn't mean to get so serious. Let's enjoy our meal huh?"

They nod, and the talk changes to discussions of various movies in different times.  John has seen several different worlds so he has the most weird stories.  Esther is a real film buff from this universe.  Vladimir has hysterical tales of "Soviet War Hero" propaganda films where a single brave Russian private was able to capture whole brigades of Nazi's by himself.

"The High Command, they made many more of these, seeing as we soldiers liked them so much.  Thought it improved our morale.  Then they found out we were laughing at the films. I think it was lucky the director was a buddy of Stalin's, or they would have shot him as an imperialist running dog lackey, a counter-revolutionary influence."

Later, Vlad whispers something to John, and the meal breaks up.  John takes you up to the roof.  Its a cloudy night, but the City of London is still beautiful, even if shrouded in shadow.

"How do we get our talents? I think it varies.  Vlad wanted me to tell you that he got his because he read his books, and fasted, and petitioned the Rodina for power, and then he practised a lot more.  Me, I was given a picture by a man, and told to see it all.  Its a way to teach your brain to bend in a way its not used too."

He pulls out his wallet, and hands you a small laminated sheet of paper.  On it is a drawing of a terribly complex network of knots.

"'If you can see the whole thing at one time. You will know.' Thats what the man said, and I have to say it worked.  But its also harder here.  I can't lift things with my mind for one.  I could in other worlds.  It feels like I'm yelling through glass here."

PT

I listen to their stories hoping to learn something from them. But I can't help being distracted by thoughts running through my mind of home, special powers and the different times I keep hearing about. Why am I here? How am I going to survive all this?  I haven't gotten used to thinking of death as anything but permanant yet.

Suddenly before I realize it is happening the meal is over and everyone is leaving. I follow John to the roof.  I stand looking out over the city a slight breeze blowing my hair a bit. The view is breathtaking. I turn to look at John as he speaks. I take the picture he shows me.  It appears to be a drawing of a complex network of knots.  I look at John with some hope showing in my face.  "Do you think it would work for me too?"

I turn to let the breeze sweep across my face and then I look down at the drawing concentrating on it. Letting everything flow from my mind except what my eyes are seeing....

You begin to see it in your mind, but its so complex that you can't remember it all at the same time.  Still, you feel something twisting, unfolding in your head, and sweat runs down your face, you sway, catching yourself on the roof wall.

You're panting, and black and gold spots are chasing themselves across your vision.

It fades, but still, you feel as if you had just run five miles.  Your legs are trembling, you're sheeted with sweat, and your breath burns in your lungs.

PT

I lean against the wall trying catch my breath. When I can move again without falling down I turn to John. I stare at him a myriad of emotions crossing my face hope, elation, fear..

I swallow hard the persperation a glossy sheen on my face That was... Is that how it's supposed to happen? I felt something but I don't know quite what. I could feel my mind twisting. But I can't remember much." I look at the card clasped in my hand "Should I try again?"

"I don't know. I mean its not like I have a book for this.  From what I see, we versers make up the book as we go.  It took me several weeks to get it."  He rubs his short hair with a perplexed hand.  Then he turns and walks away, and comes striding back.  Back and forth he walks calming with each circuit.
"On the one hand, you look done in.  On the other hand, maybe you can get a break-through now. It sometimes seemed like when I was really stressed, that I had better success.  I've heard some people say that fasting is a trigger for clairvoyance.  Maybe exhaustion and frustration is a trigger for telekinesis?  But if you're going to try again, I'd definitely get away from the roof edge."

He gives you a serious stare, letting you know its on your shoulders.

PT

I look up at John "I'm feeling better now. I don't feel so weak. But It did take a lot out of me." My brow furrows as I concider my options and  possible consequences. "I just have this feeling that something will happen."

I walk away from the edge of the roof and turn to look out into the night sky. I take a deep breath and turn the card so I can look at it. I have this strong feeling I should try again. So here goes. "

I tilt my head so I can see the card and then I close my eyes and clear my head. I open my eyes to the card and focus all my concentration on it. All the night sounds and smells seem to drift away as my complete focus is on that little card....

You follow your hunch, and you can just barely see, wavering in and out of focus, the whole of the knot structure.  And something seems to unfold in your brain, and without worry, you reach out, and tap a pebble on the ground with your mind.

It skitters away from you a few feet.

And then whatever that was, collapsed in your head, and you find yourself panting, sitting on the ground, but with a huge grin on your face.

John is clapping.

"Well done. You picked it up quicker than I did.  Granted its probably only  five ounces of pressure right now, but still, wow!"

PT

I look up at John with this huge grin on my face. Partly because I can't help myself and also because I don't have the energy to do anything else at the moment. If I did I'd probably be jumping up and down and hugging him. As soon as I can talk again I ask him one of many question shooting through my head. "Now what? Do I just keep trying to move stuff?"

I look at that little pebble I had just moved and suddenly I want to know what else I have the ability to do. "I am suddenly anxious to expore all my abilities."  I smile "But I guess I should wait until I can at least walk again huh?"

I lean forward and pick up the pebble and look at it for a minute and then put it in my pocket. Then I push myself up off the ground and look at John sheepishly "Call it sentimental but I want to keep that little pebble for some reason."

"Makes perfect sense to me.  Keep the pebble.  I would."  He escorts you over to the mop room elevator door, and inside.  You're still vibrating inside, wanting to bounce up and down, but your legs feel like spaghetti.

"I'd keep practising.  But tommorrow. Go to bed now, if you can.  If not, start reading the handbook for employees.  That will put anyone to sleep." He says as the floor sinks beneath you and him.

"Keep in mind, most psi talents don't seem to work here.  In that superhero world, I could spin a knife in the air,and make it come to me.  Here I can't.  The most I know someone else could do here is read surface thoughts, but I don't know how to do that."

He takes you to your door, and gravely nods a good night.

PT

I nod goodnight to John and turn to enter my room.  I take my pebble out of my pocket and look at it. A sudden smile spreads across my face. He was right about the wanting to jump up and down.

I sigh but I have many things to learn to prepare myself for survival in this world. I walk over to my stack of books I look them over deciding which to start with. I'm thinking a better wait to read the handbook at time when I am not so exhausted. I pick up the locksmith book and the gun book and  carry them over to the comfortable chair I chosen as my reading nook.

I settle in for a few hours of reading before heading to bed. Another busy day tomorrow

The days that follow are filled with activity.  Muscles are found, and then strengthened in the dojo while your katas are being refined.  You're still doing general muscle conditioning, and learning the proper moves, but you think that next week, your sensei will start you on quarter-speed sparring.

He's also promised to start you on learning how to be quiet.

"A ninja can sit so quietly that a bird will land on her, and go to sleep."

Your classes, except for the crypto class (which has this funny, little bird-like man who must be at least ninety, watches everything with bright interest, and casually demonstrates what genius looks like as he says more in fifteen words than others say in two thousand.) are going well.  The crypto class is going great.

The psi is going well.  You've lost control once, and smashed a full coffee cup into a wall, rather than moving teh paper clip next to it.  But you've also gotten to where you can do it, and only need ten minutes of rest afterwards.

PT

Stepping out of the shower I grab the towel and wipe the water from my face and then wrap it around my hair. Then I grab another and dry my body wincing a little as I feel a few muscles that are still feeling my workouts. But on the bright side I can already feel the affect of my muscle conditioning. I am nowhere near as sore as I was when I first started.

As I get dressed I plan out my next few hours. I want to run down the special weapons lab and see what they have in the way of cameras. I could just go shopping and pick up a really good one but I may as well see what kind of fancy stuff they have here first. And then lets see I want to take my Browning Buck Master Challenge .22LR down and see if they will trade me for something a little quieter. Perhaps something with a silencer. I frown..is today the day I was to go to the gun farm? I go over and pick up my calendar opening it up to check my appointments for the day.

Once dressed, you check out the calendar, and find out with relief that its tommorrow that you go to the so-called gun farm where "the trees dangle bullets instead of berries, and hand grenades grow instead of potatoes." as some of the more whimsical around Claude's Corral put it with sly grins over their tea cups.

Upon getting down stairs you find they have four currently in inventory, although they are willing to try to make more to your specs.

None are standard.
1. Telephoto zoom lens with x-ray capabilities.
2. Small, easy, high-quality casual use digital with a two-use laser discharge.
3. Poor quality camera, but it also has a flash strobe which tends to "freeze" people if caught full in the face for around fifteen seconds.  Ordinary batteries.
4. Underwater camera with radio control and motor so you can have your submersible camera go some of teh distance alone...short range on the control however...max above water is two hundred feet, below is thirty feet.

They are quite happy to give you something else quieter in a pistol.  Do you want something heavier, or is a .22 okay?  And do you want it mounted inside something?  Or how about we make you a nice nine mm, sub-sonic rounds to diminish noise,pure ceramic so it won't show up on x-ray machines, even the bullets, built in silencer, an electro-resistive explosive propellant?

And then we can toss in a lipstick with a .22, and a pair of sunglasses with a blow gun in the detachable side bars, with the other side bar holding the ammo?

You get the feeling that they regard their job roughly how Santa's elves would if the elves were gun-toting mad scientists.

PT

I like the telephoto zoom with x-ray capabilities. But I also like the lazer discharge.  Hoping I'm not being too demanding, greedy or just plain ignorant about these things.  I ask them to see if they can come up with something which has both capabilities.  And I also ask is the lazer discharge rechargable?

I can't help smiling as they show me the nine mm. I had never seen anything like it. I of course want that one. And then when they give me the lipstick and sunglasses I feel like a kid at Christmas.

I leave the gun room and head to the college for my classes.

The class is studying cryptographic history today, which some of the students find less than enthralling, but for you finding out about the methods used in the Twelfth and the Fifteenth Centuries is useful, after you realize with a chill that you may well visit them someday.

You notice the professor watching you, and observing your absorption, but the very bright man says little.

The next day, at the gun farm, you are handed your nine mm.  First its safety course, and then its too the gun range.  You shoot about two hundred rounds the first day, and your shooting is erratically getting better.  The sergeant in charge calls it off when he sees your scores rapidly falling.

"You're getting tired. Best rule of thumb when operating dangerous machinery is be well rested.  Of course, once you're a pro, we'll teach you how to shoot when you've had zero sleep for the last week, and you literally have to hold open your eyelids to see the target, but thats for then."

OOC: 1@1 Pistol Shooting.

PT

As I practice at the range I find that I really like this gun. Although it does have a bit more kick than my .22 had. After I get used to the gun hopefully my shooting will improve a lot.

I head back to go see the little smart alect who is teaching me B&E. After I drop any valuable items in my room of course. I'd avoid him altogether if it weren't that I really needed to learn this and he was one of their best at it.

After my B&E lessons I head to the dining room for some supper and then the dojo for some more training there. And then back to my room for a shower and then some more reading before getting some sleep.

I don't know how long I can keep up this gruelling schedule. But my fear of what I might run into in the next world keeps me going. I must learn as much as I can so I can be prepared for whatever lies ahead for me.

The next morning at breakfast, after you've cleaned your gun with the kit, and put the kit back next to the operating manual, you see a note sitting next to you at the breakfast table.

"Miss Alexis, when its convenient, you may drop by to pick up your camera. SWL."

Vladimir is eating his usual big breakfast.

"Alexis, you look like you are losing weight. Tired. Let me tell you old Russian soldier secret.  When we were retreating from the Ukraine, harried by Rommel's dogs, and behind every bush a troll would leap out at us, and the only thing that saved us was that we could march all day and all night in the snow while the Nazi's were wimps who had to sleep..."

"Get to the point, Vlad."  John says with his typical directness.

"I love you too, Ivan."  Vlad says to John.  "We ate, a lot. Four big meals a day. Plus whenever we could we nibbled on something. You need to eat more.  You're working harder, and sleeping less. Food helps with both of them."

PT

"Thank You for the information Vlad. I will try to eat more."  And so I have some orange juice, eggs, crisp bacon and whole wheat toast for breakfast.  Hoping that my stomach won't remind me of it later.

After breakfast I head down to pick up my new camera.  Then I head out to start my next long busy day of studies and training.

I take a break at lunch time and pick up a sandwich at a nearby deli.  I head out to a nice quiet spot next to the fountian in the park to sit and eat.   As I eat I let the calming sounds of water hitting water and the warmth of the sun on my skin relax me. I finish my sandwich and as I'm dropping the wrapper into the bag to dispose of later I notice some pebbles laying on the ground.

A little smile appears on my lips as I anticipate trying out my new found ability.  I clear my mind and concentrate fully on one of larger of the stones.  My intent to toss it into the fountian.  I have been practicing with things of various sizes and trying for different distances. But progress has been slower then I like.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:24, Wed 02 Nov 2005.

You finish off your Reuben sandwhich, and find yourself licking your fingers, to your embarrassment, and then sit back and relax.  After a bit, the idea of bouncing a stone occurs to you.

But first you try to lift the stone into the pool.  Nothing happens.  Your concentration holds, but you're just staring at the rock.  Evidently, John was right in that most TK did not work here.

Still, you ought to be able to bounce this pebble like someone hitting a billiards ball wrong, and rebounding it off the table...

So you focus your mind, and aim at a spot on the pebble, about 40 degrees above horizontal.  Your mind uncoils, and snap!

The stone flings itself into the air in a long arc that ends with a splash in the pool.  Exhilarated, you do it again.

OOC: The basic beginning level of a skill is 1@1.  This is Rank 1 Amateur.  1-10 is Amateur.  Professional, and Expert are the levels above this.  So a 3@10 would be absolute world class.

John Walker is probably around 1@6 with Push TK. He's practised a few hundred more hours than you, and he's had occasions to try some new tricks which you haven't.

One way you can learn is to do a New Use.  That is use an old skill in a significantly different way.  I think this qualifies, so now you're 1@2 5lb. Push TK.  Learn to knock an arrow aimed at you out of the way, or to use this skill in combat, and those would be new uses as well.  The other way is to practise a lot.

Clear as mud?

I only partially use this stuff anyways so its not essential that you get it, also.

PT

I look at my watch and notice that I only just have enough time to get to my next lesson. So I jump to my feet and head out of the park dropping the remains of my lunch in a trash recepticle as I go.

As I walk along briskly to my next lesson It occurs to me that I'm actually starting to like it here. True I miss my family and friends. But my life is so full now that I barely have time to dwell on that. The people I have met so far are very nice and personable..well most of them anyway. My life seems to have a purpose now.  Although I have yet to figure out why I feel driven to succeed and improve myself constantly.

I swallow hard as the thought crosses my mind that this could in at any given moment. At least that is what I understand from what others have told me. I can only hope that my stay in this world is a long one.

At class that night you wonder if you should slow down.  It would be easier. On the other hand, you might need what you're learning.  On the third hand, if you put yourself in the hospital that won't help anyone.

Another week passes, and you've begun practising katas at quarter speed.  The shooting has firmed up to the point where you're now regularly mediocre instead of alternating between mediocre, and totally missing the target. You can now use your TK without more than a momentary feeling of weakness. Your crypto professor has assigned each person to create a cypher for class, and then cyphers will be traded, and the recipient will try to solve the cypher.  The computer class is going well, and you've improved your keyboarding, and understanding of Windows.

You walk outside that night for the mid-course break at the computer class with two other techs, guys who are accompanying you, when the one to your left grunts.

You spin, and see two males, in hooded jackets.  One has a club in his hand that he obviosly just used to smack Jeremy in the stomach, and the other has a hand in a jacket.

"Now ya' rich nerdy-nerds going to pay for an education. Hand over your wallets, and your watches, unless you want Professor Pain to teach ya'"  He waggles his club, evidently thats Professor Pain.

PT

I walk outside with my two new friends from my comp class enjoying the feel of the night breeze across my face. Suddenly I hear Jeremy grunt in pain. I spin around to see to guy in hooded jackets.

I take in the scene all my senses and training kicking into high gear. One has a club and he apparently had just used it on Jeremy. The other has his hand hidden in his jacket.

My first instincts are to attempt to knock that club out of that guys hand with my TK and pull my gun out of its shoulder holster. I don't go anywhere without my gun these days. But I hesitate because I don't know what if anything that other guy is hiding in his jacket. I stare intently at the guys jacket where his hand is hidden trying to see if I can see any indication of a weapon there.

There is a pistol shape in his jacket pocket.  Its curious that he hasn't drawn it.

PT

There is definately a gun in his pocket. I wonder breifly why he hasn't shown it. Maybe he really doesn't want to use it. I can see the outline of the gun. Maybe..... the element of surprise might give us a chance.  I have never tried this with my PK. I don't even know if it will work. But what have I got to lose.  I concentrate all my energies on the outline of that gun.   I visualize the trigger and I focus on pulling the trigger....

You concentrate, and then you realize you don't know where his trigger finger is.  Before you always knew precisely where what you wanted to move was.  Now, there's a smidgeon of doubt.  Enough to spoil the attempt.

The club wielder raises his club, and the other moves his hand slightly, and Greg with fear in his face, starts to pull out his wallet.  Jeremy straightens up, and does likewise.

"Hey sister, you're cute and all, but time to pay up."  He points the club in your face.


PT

I look at them with what I hope is a look of fear. What I'm really feeling by this point is a lot irritated.  "Ok but it in my inside jacket pocket." I give them a ironic laugh. "I don't trust pickpockets around here."

I have a feeling that so called gun might be a fake. Why else would he keep it in his pocket thus making it harder for him to use. I lift my jacket a little but not enough to expose my gun. Then I begin to reach inside. My plan is to draw my gun and put an end to this. I just hope my feeling about his gun is right or I might just be waking up in a new world.

Your ruse seems to work.  Perhaps its because its what they expect.  Or simply the fact that its night, and other than some night lights on the outside of the school, including the one above the door you just came out of, its not very bright.  In fact, even with those lights its not all that bright.

You pull up the jacket, and fumble slightly for the gun, and suddenly its cleft clean to your hand, and you are pulling it out, and pointing it at them.  The "gunman" just started to draw, but stops when your pistol drifts his way.

They both put their hands in the air.

"The goil, she's armed, ain't that against the law? This ain't fair."  The clubwielder whines.

PT

I stand there with my gun pointed at them completely alert and ready yet at the same time I feel a little surprised that I actually pulled it off. I fight back a smile won't my weapons instructer be surprised.

I don't want to push my luck anymore. I just want to get out of this mess safely. So I tell my friends to get to the door and inside. I follow them keeping my gun on the wannabe thieves at the same time. As soon as I get inside I duck out of sight into the nearest room.

I pause at the door and listen for signs of being followed.

You hear the sounds of feet beating a rapid retreat down the sidewalk, and out to the road.  Evidently they decided discretion is the better part of avoiding going to prison.

Your two friends, are listening as well, so you all huddle by the door.  They both give you high fives, and hugs as the noise of the attackers fades, although Jeremy says with a touch of bitterness...

"I wish you'd let me slug that one before you let them go.  Pay the lousy creep back."

"Yeah, Professor Pain, what an idiot." Robert says patting Jeremy on the shoulder. "I'm surprised he could pronounce 'Professor'."

PT

I reholster my weapon and smile at Jeremy trying not to show how much I'm shaking inside.  "Sorry about that.  Maybe next time you can have your revenge.  We should proababy get back to class.

I find it very hard to concentrate on what is on my computer for the rest of the class. Even though things came out ok tonight, they could have just as easily went the other way. This scares the daylights out of me. I had heard enough from John and other versers to know that I got lucky to have landed in this world. What happened tonight just made me realized even more how unprepared I am for anything even remotely like some of those other worlds they had been to.

I finish class and head home more determined than ever to get as much of my training done in as little time as possible.

Armed with fresh determination, you sail into your next week.  Your sensei has you sitting still for an hour atop a balance beam...you only fall asleep once.  Later he adds a cup of water to your head, and checks your hair to see if its wet.  Any wetness,  and he sends you for a run up and down the stairs with a bag full of textbooks.

The gun farm sergeant offers you a spring-loaded holster after you tell him the story.

"Pops it into your hand that crucial half-inch so you don't have to dig into the holster for it."  And then he has you practise quick draw and shoot.

In computer class, you're suddenly popular.  No one says anything, but occasionally you get a significant glance, and when one of the girls wants to go to the car to get something, they usually ask you to come along.  And you find yourself invited to their dinner with them now at the spaghetti house down the street.

In crypto, you turn in your code to be handed to another student and another student gives you a square block of numbers that he coded for you to decode.  It looks simple, but your first effort fails.  Your second effort gets.."No, thats not right either." as the code answer.  You look up across the class to see one of your fellow students smirking at you.

"You are never going to get it." A guy to your left whispers. "Roark is a genius, a fiendish one at that."

PT

I look at the guy who's whispering to me.  That sounded like a challenge if I ever heard one.  My new found determination kicks in again.  I will not be beat by this stupid code.

First I do a letter frequency count to determine whether it's a cypher.

Next I play with the patterns of the letters

If this is a positional code I start playing with lines of letters as blocks. Shifting the columns around in different patterns.

You take it back home, and work into the night.  Its hard, but you are fiercely concentrating.  The letter count comes back with unusually high frequencies of certain letters, like "V" and "W", "X", "Z" and "L", and hardly any "E's".  Which is all wrong.  It should be high in "E's" and "S's".  Those are after all, some of the most common letters used in the English language.

It seems to be a cypher, but..

As to your positional search, there seems to be something there, but whatever it is is on the farthest edges of your perception, more of a hint than an actual entity.  But you can smell it....

PT
OOC: Very nice description of tactics for cryptography.

I have brief thoughts of how much I'll regret this in the morning but I push them aside and continue working on the code far later into the night than I should.  I feel as if I am so close to finding the solution and yet so far.

I try looking at the high frquency letters "V", "W", "X", "Z" and "L" as possible codes for other letters. I start replacing them with some of the more commonly used letters in the alphabet.

I also continue with shifting the columns and playing with those patterns. There is something there I can feel it.

OOC: Thanks :)

The next morning...you are definitely regretting it.  A blazing hot shower, and two cups of coffee with a few bits of bacon on the side gets you up to the point where you're willing to converse with other human beings...in monosylabbles.

John Walker is smiling tentatively at you, wondering if you're okay.  Vladimir is holding his head.  It looks like he is having a worse morning than you.

He's moaning something in Russian, full of consonants, and strange twists of sylabbles, but as he is holding his head, its probably something along the line of "My hangover is killing me."

PT

I look at John but can't get up the energy to smile back "Need coffee.....Hate codes.."  When my coffee gets there I chug it down black and ask for a refill before the waitress even gets away from the table.

If I had the energy I be teasing Vlad right now. He looks worse than I do.

My breakfast arrives and I force myself to pick up my fork and eat. I never knew a fork could weigh so much. By the time I finish my breakfast and two more cups of coffee I'm feeling functional enough to begin my day.

About a week later, and you are still struggling with the code, and "C" calls you into his office.  Its a rather restrained room in an understated "I'm incredibly powerful so I can afford genuine antiques" sort of way. You walk in over a Persian rug, and past the darkly glowing small table, and in a space separated by two wall hutches adorned with dozens of little carved scenes, you see a sad Clarence slumped behind the desk.

Vladimir is already there.

"I am dreadfully sorry to tell you this.  John Walker got versed out around ten O'clock London time this morning.  He was investigating something in Uzbekistan."

"You should have sent me. I'm Russian. Ya?"  Vladimir snaps out.

"Perhaps so, Vlad.  Perhaps so.  I thought it would not require much contact with the locals.  Just a hike in, and a looksee.  But sometimes I mess up."

C sighs.

"He's somewhere else.  There's things gathering.  A force is growing, and I may need your help, but right now I can't grasp it."

PT

My face pales and suddenly I can't seem to breathe. I unconsciously grope for a nearby chair collapsing into it as my knees give out. I try to console myself with the fact that he's still out there somewhere. But it doesn't help much. I know what my odds of seeing him again are.  I blink my eyes trying to clear the sudden blurrinees in them. I reach up th rub them only then realizing that it's tears causing my blurred vision.

Suddenly what he is saying makes it's way to my consciencious thinking. "I may need your help."!?   What does he mean by that? I am nowhere near ready for any type of spy or agent or whatever you want to call it work.

I look up at him stunned "But I'm not ready!  I need more training! I can't even break a simple code given to me by a classmate!"    Hearing the panic in my voice I try to calm myself.  I wipe my eyes and take a deep breath. "Sorry sir. Ok sir I will do my best."

C gets up from behind his desk, and comes over and pats your hand.

"I know you will, Alexis.  Thats all I could ask from any verser.  I've seen you struggling to learn.  Your teachers speak highly of you.  They say you have good instincts, and are very dedicated.

And my dear, when I first came to this world, over fifty years ago, I knew not all that much more than you.  And yet, I prevailed.  In part because I would not stop.  Most people are cautious.  A verser doesn't have to be.  Its my experience that a beginning verser is worth three times as much as a beginning normal agent."

"Da, little Alexis, you will do fine.  I know. I have seen many soldiers start in fight.  Develop instinct for who would be a good soldier, and who would run screaming from the first little Nazi troll.  Smart, tough you are.  I'd like to have you in my unit."  Vlad adds with a kind of calm competence about this one thing.  He may not get much of what's going on in this universe, but he does know how to soldier.

PT

I smile through my tears.  "Thank you both."  I pull myself together and stand up. "Well I better get back to my training. I still have so much to learn in what seems to be so little time."

I turn to head toward the door with a whole new outlook. Up until now this whole thing had been almost like a dream.  It has suddenly gotten very real.

Over the next week, you attack your skill-training with a kind of focused determination that pushes you beyond what you thought was possible.  You are doing full speed sparring now, and when you mess up on your 'stay silent' exercises which is increasingly rare, your sensei drops in a bag of free weights because a backpack full of textbooks just doesn't hurt that bad anymore as you run up and down the stairs.

You're starting to learn multi-tasking as well from the ninja and the b&e talent.  They sit you on a balance beam situated fifteen feet off the floor, cross legged, and with a china plate, and teacup full of hot tea on your head, and a block of wood with a lock affixed in it, and your hands full of lockpicks.

If you fall off, spill the tea, or fail to open the lock in under two minutes you fail...and get to run up and down stairs some more with forty pounds of weights in your Ninja Turtles backpack.

"You may begin now, student."  The ninja says with serenity from the floor of the dojo.
"Yeah, sheila, I think you'll like this lock. I made it special for you."  The talent chortles.

PT

I give the smart aleck B&E talent a sarcastic "Gee Thanks!" look.  I then take a deep breath and focus all my attention on the lock.  I examine the lock and then set to work with my tools.

All outside noises float away as I focus entirely on the task at hand. I can feel the sweat beads appearing on my forehead as I work the lock with no immediate success. But I refuse to give up.  I can almost hear the seconds ticking away as keep working at the pins with the pick. But it feels like it's almost there just one more....

And as you work, you notice an extra wire that doesn't seem to do anything.  Curious you follow it around the side where it leads into the wood.  Tapping at the block reveals its hollow, in fact, very hollow.

That explains why it was so light in your hand.  A few unexplained pinpricks on the side of the door block puzzle you.

And then like sunrise, you see it.  A sound box like a guitar volume.  With air holes to let the noise out.

So when you finally open the door, an electronic chime is triggered, and the sound box amplifies the noise to where it might have startled you into falling off.

"RINGGGGGG!"

But you are ready, and only a twitch in your forearm betrays any surprise.

You look down to see a crestfallen talent, and ...

PT

I carefully remove the teacup and saucer from my head and then look down at the crestfallen talent with a raised brow. "That wasn't funny!"

I get to my feet and quickly but carefully make my way across the beam and down to the floor. As I go to stand in front of my sensei, I can't help grinning.  But I tone it down immediately and look at my sensei with respect and then give him a slight bow.

I stand quietly waiting for my next lesson from the sensei.

"Very good, student."  And then he turns to the talent. "Five pounds please."

The talent grimaces, and hands over the money, and then beats a hasty retreat.

"Now, student, I have a riddle for you, since you wish to be a mistress of ninjutsu."

He walks over to a table.  On it lie a broom, a newspaper, a folding fan, and a pair of crochet needles.

"What one thing do these have in common?"

PT

I mull it over in my mind for a few moments. "Each of these objects when used properly cause casual attention to be drawn from the user and onto the items themselves.  For example who notices a sweeping janitor or a grandmother making a tiny sweater?"

"A good answer, not the answer I am looking for however.  But a very good answer.  Let me add there is more to ninjutsu than being unobserved."

He paces about the table with his hands behind his back, and watching your face intermittently as you think.

PT

I look at the Sensei a bit disheartened that I hadn't gotten the answer he wanted.   I look at the objects trying to see what he is trying to tell me about them. I study them and then I look at him and answer a bit more aprehensively this time.  "If one knows the proper techniques they can each be deadly weapons."

He claps his hands, and six ninja walk out into the room.

"Very good, my student. Now, I will demonstrate, and afterwards, we will begin to teach you how to make anything into a weapon."

You are directed to stand against the wall, and the sensei stands in the middle of the seven.  Suddenly he snatches up the fan, and the crochet needles, and using the fan to conceal his other hand, he spins left, and right, and back, and thunk, thunk as the ninja draw their bokken and charge.

Two ninja have the flat ends of the needle bouncing off their ribs, and they shrug and lay down.  The sensei leaps onto the table, and uses the additional height to vault over his swarming attackers.  The closest spins around to confront him, and the sensei throws a newspaper in his face, and while the ninja is knocking that aside, the sensei kicks him twice in the chest, knocking him down.

The others charge,and the sensei throws the now separated sheets of paper in the air, and is not under them anymore. Somehow he is behind his attackers.  He tabs one on the temple with the folded fan, and that one shrugs and drops.

The last two stalk toward him more carefully.  He grabs the broom, raps one on his hand to make him drop his bokken, and then trips the other in a reverse that ends with him laying the broom handle across the throat.

"You're out of toys now, master."

"Not paying attention, student." The sensei replies, and lifts up the table and spins it around to knock the ninja down.

As the "killed" ninja rise, your sensei walks over to you.

"Analyze please, student."

PT
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:36, Wed 09 Nov 2005.

I turn to look at the Sensei somewhat in awe but also not surprised by his superb abilities.
 
"The fan was used as a distraction and a concealer allowing the use of the knitting needles as weapons."

"The newspaper was used to distract the enemy allowing an undefended attack on him."

"Again the newspaper is used as a distraction to allow you to move quickly without being seen.  Thus allowing a weapon in the fan to be used on the next enemy."

"The broom is used as a staff weapon."

"And the table is used as a blunt."

"All affective uses of everyday items in defense of oneself."

I give the Sensei a questioning look hoping I don't sound as ignorant as I feel.

He nods, and you feel a surge of relief.

"Over the next week, occasionally someone will ask you what weapons are available around you. You will have to close your eyes, and then describe ten of the items around you, and how to use them, and where they are."

He pauses.

"Failure will not be a good idea."

And indeed, you find that he has enlisted most of the people in the building, or so it seems for his little game.  Six-seven times a day a random office worker asks you the Question,and you have to rattle off an answer.  You find the cost of failure to be rough.  Its doing hand over hand travelling down a rope strung near the ceiling without a net.

And then the night of the cryptogram comes, and you see Roark smirking.  Your name is near the end, happily.  But you're not looking forward to this.  And then halfway through the two hour long class, a student's crypto is revealed with the answer being the Russian city-- Vzazvyylnivia, and suddenly you realize what Roark has done...

PT

As soon as I hear the other student mention his cryptogram solution being the name of a russian city it dawns on me what Roark has done.  His cryptogram is in another language!

I look at it hoping to see something but with my limited knowledge of other languages I am seriously doubting that I will. But I try anyway moving column and studying the patterns.  Trying to pull out of my head what language uses the letter found in my letter frequency test regularly.

After a bit of thought, you decide its most likely Russian with the high number of "V"s and such in it.  You have forty to fifty minutes it looks like until your presentation.  You start working, and after five minutes realize that your Russian simply isn't good enough to do this.

You look up, and see Roark laughing behind his hand across the room.

What now?

PT

I look across the room and notice the smirk on Roarks' face and sigh I have to figure this out.  But how?

Suddenly an idea strikes me.  I reach down and grab my cell phone where it's clipped to my belt.  I open it up and start going through the options hoping that I had a minibrowser option.  I push the buttons furiously looking for it.  "Please please let it be there"

You search through the "World" options menu, after the "Special Services" menu had been no help, and find it listed fourth down as "Internet".  You pull up the mini-browser, and are connected...

PT
Sorry for the short post, but not much more seemed needed.

I go to russian language site and start searching for anything that contained the number letters that showed up in my letter frequency test.  I keep moving the columns around looking for any patterns of letters that look familiar from the dictionary.  It's a long shot but it's the only one I've got.  I can't really leave the  classroom.

You do not solve it in time, and with great vexation you walk up in front of the class to detail your efforts.  At one point, the teacher asks you to point out a few more details of your analysis.

Then he nods.

"All right, class. Although the golden palm definitely goes to those who solve the problem on time, sometimes that is impossible.  I'd say Miss Alexis is about two hours away from solving this, if she had the time in the library."

"So what, she didn't get it." Roark snaps out. "She failed."

"No, Mr. Roark, you failed. I gave you specific instructions to limit your ingenuity for when you presented your code to a first-timer.  You totally ignored me.  That bespeaks arrogance which is the worst sin of any crytographer.  For we approach the wonder and mystery of codes and cyphers in a spirit of humility."

Roark looks red in the face, and the teacher is studying him.  There's a long pause in the class...

PT

I breathe a sigh of relief when I hear the teacher mention my efforts positively. Well I didn't solve it but at least I didn't get a bad response from the teacher either.

I don't bother giving Roarke any response at all.  He isn't worth my time.

I smile at the teacher and promise him I am going to solve the code anyway.

You sit down, and relax, and then you hear a slamming of books.  Roark is gathering his things.

And then suddenly he laughs.

"I really don't know why I bothered with all this rigamarole for the dumb.  I guess I thought I could learn something more useful.  Instead I learned again what I already knew.  This world is arranged for the satisfaction of mediocrities."

Your ears are burning.

"YOU can go now! You're finished." The teacher yells.  He's a gentle man, and you've never seen him more than reflective.

"No, teacher, stupid classmates, Miss Alexis. You're finished."

Roark laughs as if he knows something.

PT

I watch Roarke leave the room. Thinking that a little research on him might be a good idea. I don't like threats and his last comment ssure sounded like one.

I finish class and continue my day thoughts of Roarke forgotten as my busy life resumes it's normal pace.

However as soon as I can squeeze in the time I make a trip to the library and continue my work on Roarke's code.  I'm determined to break it and take the results back to my teacher.

Several of your fellow students assure you after class that while Roark is smart, he's also insufferable, and they are happy to see him gone.  You feel a bit relieved at the support, and later that day make your way to the library.  It takes you an hour and a half of intense focus, but by the end you have a feel for the way his mind works, and you're not surprised to see the message appear at the end, although the message is baffling.

"The Oxford Union voters were right, too bad they were cowards."

Looking further into the library you find out that a group of debate students had voted on, and affirmed that they were not willing to die for King and Country.  But in the end, they chose to fight WW2 when the Nazi's came for their country.

Troubled, you bring this home to Parsifal House.

C and Vladimir are waiting for you in C's office the front gate guard informs you with his normally calm eyes filled with intensity.

PT

I thank the guard and then head up to C's office.  I enter the room and walk over to lay the paer containing the results of my research on his desk.

"This is the results of a code I deciphered for my class.  I thought you should be made aware of this information.  I'm not sure if theses people are a real threat but for some reason it bothers me."

I look at C and Vladmir suddenly noticing a tensness in the room. And I suddenly recall the look in the guards eyes.  "Is something wrong?"

"Yes. Oxford Union, their most famous vote was the one that had them state they were unwilling to die for king and country. However, they recanted by their deeds when the Nazi's attacked.  Hmmh. I wonder if this young man believes they should have held to their 'ideals'?"

"Not willing to die for your country? For your mother, for the Rodina. Holy Mother Russia. What little cowardly puppy is this? I would take him out and thrash him.  Perhaps he find courage then."  Vladimir scorns him with a furious intensity.

"Yes, Alexis. We have a serious problem. A biohazzard facility has been hit. Strathmore Labs which is up near Belfast against my wishes since I felt that was too close to the IRA. Someone hit it, and triggered the long count meltdown.  Heat is steadily rising, and we don't have any data on who did it, and what they took, and whether any of our people are still alive.  We need you to go in there, and try to fix things along with Vlad."

PT

The Guys name is Roarke.  I don't know his last name.  I'm sure the college can help out with that information though.

I pale slightly at the news but remain calm.

"Ok..Uhh what are the dangers involved?  What kind of biohazzards are we talking about?  What kind of gear do we need?"

"Strathmore is a Level Five containment and experimentation facility.  That means it experiments with potentially civilization ending viruses. Viruses that we have no vaccine for, are human-to-human, and have an above fifty percent lethality rate. Its also got a smaller chemical weapons facility from the old days when it used to do just that.

You'll need to have an FBS-l5 suit, full body suit level five, a control schematic for the nuclear reactor to turn it off, a complete list of codes used (although I expect that at least some of those will be changed) and rope to rappel down the main shaft since the facility is underground. It will be very warm, and inside your suit it will be worse. I'm not sure what else you'll need.  I leave that to your discretion."

PT
OOC: In other words, you get to ask for what you want, and I get to roll to see what you get.  Any other players feel free to offer advice on equipment for Alexis in the OOC thread.

I sit silently for a minute getting my thoughts together.  I look over at C.  "You say they are human to human.  Does that mean airborne, passed on by touch, or exchange of body fluids?"

 I take a deep breath and my brain starts to kick in.  What information do we have on the attack?  Do we know what part of the facility was hit?  Do we know how it was attacked?  Do we know if the attackers may still be in the area?" 

I fire off questions as fast as they come to me wanting any and all information I can get.  The more prepared the better in my book and I can prepare my self better if I know what I'm walking into.

Has anyone tried to get any aerial views or onything to give us any clues as to what's happening over there?"

C nods in approval.

"All of the above. There are four major biological L5's there. Two are purely airborne, one is bodily fluids only, and the last is variable--it depends basically on what environment the virus finds in its host's body on how it spreads."

He calls up a picture on the wall with a clicker.  It shows a live airborne view of the facility.  It looks like a small bunker, perhaps ten thousand square feet surrounded by an acre of fencing, and tank traps. Smoke is curling from the mouth of the 'bunker' and from the British Army armoured personal carrier crashed in the gate.  Small little boxes scattered about the area sit there.

"This is the only part of Strathmore Army Base that was hit.  The attackers stole an APC after overpowering an army guard, and used it to ram the gate, and then slipped in on foot, we think.  The guards at the gate, plus their camera won't be telling us anything.  We don't know if the attackers are still there, but we think they are gone."

PT

"A FBS-l5 suit huh?   What are the specs of this suit?  They better be good with what we are facing.  Also you said some of the codes may be changed.  Any idea how to go about finding out that pertinant information.  I don't want to have to spend precious minutes in there trying to dicipher them.  I'm just not that good at it yet."

I turn to look at Vladimir "Do you have any experience with biohazzards?   if so any suggestions on what we might need to take with us?"

He shows you a list of specs.  It provides full body protection with a rubberized suit that is airtight so that you can walk with safety through a cloud of Sarin, or a fog of Russian  "India Variant Modified War Smallpox Type -3" without fear of damage to yourself.  The air is internal, provided by chemical combustion from powders.

A bag of chemicals, about ten pounds provides an hour of oxygen.

The suit has a clear face screen, and the exterior rubber is kevlar laced so that you could resist scratches from sharp metal bits, or perhaps a small caliber bullet.

You have patching equipment with it.

Its a hybird of a typical yellow Hazmat suit, and a diver's wetsuit, and some new technology.

Its chief flaw is that its very hot.

Vladimir shakes his head.  He's not even sure what biohazzards are.

PT

My eyes widen at Vladimir's statement about knowing little about biohazzards.  I look back at C  "Are we the best you've got?  I admit I studied chemistry and biology but this is way above anything I know."

I give a sigh of resignation  "Ok so how is this mission going to work?  I'm assuming we will be in contact with someone at all times.  I'm thinking maybe some type thermal and x-ray scanner would be an asset.  I don't suggest goggles as they would be impossible to put on while in the suit.  Also maybe some flashbang gernades."

I think for a minute    "Is someone going to give us adiscription of the place so we know where we are going?  With only an hour of air I'm thinking time is going to be at a premium.  I definately don't want to spend it walking around lost.  Speaking of saving time how about those changed codes? I don't want to have to waste time trying to decipher those either and it would take some time as I'm am not that good at it."

"I did not come from Earth like this, Alexis. It was in the 1980's I left my Earth, and we did not have computers.  Nor telephones with buttons.  We had rifles, and spells to summon zombies in order to fight the Nazi's.  The Nazi's controlled London, and Brendansland was a howling wilderness."  Vladimir says.  "Stalin, the man of steel was dictator-father of the Russians."

C sighs.

"I would not send anyone but versers into this situation. Ordinarily, we would close the doors, and let the reactor cook off, and melt the place into a nice safe puddle.  Thats what the Long Count self-destruct is designed to do.

We will be in contact with you at all times.  I have people working on figuring out the codes, and the layout as we speak.  We will try to stay ahead of you, and relay our advice to you as you face each obstacle.

We will be using a classified Most Ultra Secret, Codeword Only device, a neutrino radio to keep in contact with you.  Its more like a ham radio.  One way only at a time."

PT

I look at Vlad an apology in my eyes "I'm sorry Vlad I meant no offense to you. I'm just feeling very much out of my league here.  I don't want to think about something happening to you or anyone else because of my inexperience.  I know as versers we don't die, but somehow I think the next world may not be so friendly towards us."

I turn to C "I understand about using versers.  I wouldn't want it any other way either."

I look at Vlad and then back to C "Ok let's do this.  When and where do we go to get our equipment and mission briefing?"

"Is nothing, little Alexis. This world is friendlier, more advanced in things than is mine. No shame. It just is.  Perhaps if Stalin die early instead of transforming himself into steel golem and putting his heart into a jar, we might have had a happier world.  But I never heard of biohazzards or computers, and all this.  Comrade Stalin not have as nice office as C here does.  I like here better, even though I miss my potato vodka.  But even though I don't know biohazzards, I know how to kill people.

Perhaps next world not be so nice. Oh well, Russians know that being happy is an aberration."

C takes you both down to the Special Weapons Lab and has you outfitted with a FBS-L5 suit.  The air tastes of chemicals, but it sustains you, and you can shoot your pistol, a bit awkwardly, and you can already tell its going to be hot inside the suit.

PT
OOC: Write me one list of all the things you want.  You won't need goggles because this suit has a full face plate that is 'bullet resistant'.

I can feel my face getting red from the heat and I'm not even doing anything yet. I llok at C through my special mask. "I see..uh feel what you mean about the warmth problem with the suit."

I walk around in it a bit trying to get a fell for how it moves. "You said a bag of chemicals provides about an hour of air.  Is it possible to exchange bags without disrupting the seal of the suit?  It would be nice to have a bit more than an hour to get this done.  I don't work at my best under pressure."

I turn to face C and almost trip over my own feet.  This sure isn't going to be easy.

They show you how to change out,and it uses a positive air pressure in the change so unless you mess it up, you won't be allowing any viruses or chem war toxins into your suit.

"Think of it like wearing boots." C says, and then demonstrates a sligthly bowlegged walk.  "And it should become more flexible as it warms up. Which it will."

He rubs his hands together, and brings your supplies that you requested.

"So unless there is anything else, I'd like to take you up to the helicopter on the roof?"

PT

I raise my arm and look at my wrist then I back at C with slightly reddened cheeks.  "Umm...I seem to have forgotten to put my watch on the outside of my suit.  Is there a timer or something on it so I know when the chems need changing?"

I strap on my combat rigging amd immediately wish I could drop part of the gear.  It's a bit heavier than I expected.  But after some adjusting and tightening of straps I feel more like I can carry it without too much trouble.  I check all my equipment so I at least have an idea where everything is and then nod at C.  "Other than the timer issue I think I'm ready."

C slips off his Rolex, and puts it on your arm. Then he pats you on the shoulder.

Its a quick elevator ride up to a copter, and then a race across London, and then nap of the earth flying across northern England.  At no time out of the city do you rise above fifty feet from the ground.  Flying under the bridge was especially....interesting.

Vladimir was shouting out something religious in Russian during that time.

You arrive near the seashore, and slow down.  Roads near the site are blocked off by British Army tanks, and you get buzzed by two RAF jets.

Your communicator clicks on.

*OK. Alexis, Vlad. I need you to climb out of the copter, and onto the landing skids and the pilot will detach, um, lower, lower I mean, a pallet from underneath the helicopter.  You both climb on at the same time to keep it balanced.*

The copter continues forward at a slower forty miles per hour.

PT

My eyes widen when I am told to climb out of the helicopter and onto the landing skids. What does he think I am an acrobat! I look at Vlad and see that he is already reaching for the door handle.

I take a deep breath and turn towards my side of the copter. I open the door and feel a sudden rush of air.  I look up and grab hold of the grip above the door.

Then I make the mistake of looking down towards the ground. Oh my...it's a long way down.  I quickly pull my head up and take a deep calming breath telling myself I have to do this for the safety of others. I look back out the door looking for and judging the distance to the landing skid from the doorway.

Keeping a death grip on the handle grip I turn to put my back to the door so I will be able to see underneath the copter when I get outside.   I reach up with my other hand and grab the side of the door opening and step out and towards the skid.

My eyes widen and if my knuckles could be seen they would appear white as I feel the wind grab me when I step out.  Concentration lost for a split second I miss the skid the first time.  Barely grazing it with my toes.  I quickly stretch a little more and get my foot on the skid.

I bring my other foot down and am now standing on the skid.  I look across at Vlad to see him grinning at me.  He has obviously done this before.  I smile back at him resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him.

I look down to see where the pallet was that we need to step onto. I examine it quickly and get in my head what I needed to do to get onto it. Then I look back at Vlad and give him a nod indicating that I was ready to try this.  Vlad looks at me and gives me a hand motion indicating I need to sit down on the skid. This part was easy after I made myself let go of the handle grip.

After we are both seated Vlad indicates we should both go on the count of three.  I nod.

Vlad holds up his hand and counts off one..two..three!  I quickly step onto the pallet grabbing the cable its attached to sqeezing my eyes shut and holding on for dear life as the thing swings back and forth.

As the swinging subsides I manage to open my eyes and look at Vlad standing there holding onto his cable like this was a cake walk.  He nods at me with twinkling eyes indicating a job welldone.  I smile back and say a prayer that this pallet hits the ground soon.

The copter slows over the site, and begins lowering the pallet which since not all its motion is shed begins to swing like a pendulum.  You hear some yelling on the radio link as the pilot realizes his error, and then a gust of wind hits the copter, and yanks the aircraft ten feet upward.

Its enough to flip the pallet on its side, and snap two of the restraining cables.  You tumble wildly, and your foot catches in something, and suddenly you're hanging by your right foot forty feet off the ground with your nose pointing to the packed earth.

The pallet is vertical, only being held by two chains, and the items on it seem mostly to be staying in place. Vladimir is on the opposite top side of the pallet, and trying to climb up on the beam instead of hanging by his arms and elbows from the top edge of the now vertical pallet.

You are swinging back and forth about fifteen feet.  You can feel your foot beginning to slip as you squirm, and then you realize you must needs stay still like a ninja.  Enforced stillness keeps you from slipping further...

PT

Finding myself hanging upside down from the copter I look down to see the ground forty feet below me.  My first thought is that I need to pull myself up and get a better grip on something.  I start to squirm around trying to grab something. Suddenly I feel myself slipping.  My training kicks in and I realize I must keep my foot still or it may come loose.

I force myself to remain still and try to catch a glance at things as I swing. I have to either find something to grab without moving my foot or pray this copter gets down to the ground before whatever is wrapped around my foot releases me and I plummet to the ground.

You hear Vladimir shouting on the radio link to land the copter, and the pilot refusing because it might stir up dust, and spread any viruses left in the soil far and wide.

The pilot in fact is considering cutting you both free because the pendulum effect of the swing is unbalancing his copter.  Vlad puts a halt to that by threatening to shoot the copter if he starts falling.

You realize you have to do something. And then you remember opening a lock while keeping your head still enough to not spill a cup of hot tea resting on your head...

PT
OOC: And yes, that was a botch that got you into this plight.

Hearing what is going on I am thinking that my swinging is what is causing the pallet to swing thus throwing everthing off balance.  So I have to stop myself from swinging.  I look around carefully not moving my foot as I do.

After I get count on my swing and at what point in the count I pass the pallet. I prepare my self and then begin counting off.  When I reach the count that has me at a level where I can grab the pallet I will attempt reach for the pallet.  As I am doing this I am also concentrating on not moving my foot at all during this whole endeveour.

You time it just right, and end up doing a trapeze act with your foot coming loose, and your hands grabbing on as the pallet comes nearly level.  With your heart pounding, and a huge grin breaking out over your face, you swing back while listening to cheers over the radio.

"Great scott! Did you see that?" You hear one unfamiliar voice say.
"She's a verser, really now, what did you expect?" Another replies trying to act unimpressed and British, but not succeeding that well.

A pair of fighter jets circle at a safe distance, and you figure they are the commenters.

Then with Vladimir helping a little bit, you counterswing your body against the swing of the pallet, so that you gradually drag the pendulum swinging to a halt.  By now, tired and at the same time grateful for your practice hanging from ropes, you just wait as the cable spools itself out, and you, Vlad and the pallet make a safe landing.  The cable detaches from the copter and thuds down next to you.

PT

With my feet on solid ground again I breath a happy sigh.  Then I proceed to check over my gear and what part of my suit I can see to make sure everything is still intact.

I walk over to Vlad.  "Let me check over your suit for any damage and you can return the favor for me ok?"  As I'm speaking I take a look at the Rolex on my arm to see how much time is left on the chem packs in our suits.

After our suits are a checked over and I'm sure they are ok.  I take a look at the equipment on the pallet. Seeing what's there and if it's all still in working condition.

Your neutrino radio clicks as you search your stuff, and check over each other's suits.

*Two choices. Take one of the air vent covers off, and make your way crawling down to the lower levels.  Slow, and arduous, but probably safer.  Or head toward the open door which is smoking, its not a fire we can tell, the infrared is too cool for that, and take the elevator down, or rappel down the elevator shaft. Up to you two*

Vlad looks at you, and motions for you to make the decision.

"This world is closer to yours than mine. Just tell me who to shoot."

Your gear looks a bit bounced around, but it was tied on well, and made of good stuff, except for a spare bag of O2 chem which fell and splattered.

You've used up ten minutes of an hour so far, and you have five bags left after you finish the two you are currently on.

PT

I look at the smoking doorway not really liking the chioce I will make but I feel it is our best option. I look down at the spare bag of 02 splattered all over the ground.  "We have already lost one hour of our time due to the loss of that 02 bag.  Therefore I think we should go for the elevator or the shaft."  I begin to gather up our equipment as I await everyone's response.

After I have everything gathered up and take another look around I indicate To Vlad to follow me as I head towards the open doorway.  I take out the X-ray scanner.  As I look at the controls on it I speak to whoever can hear me and knows about this equipment. "How much can I see with this?  What can it scan through?"  A hopeful tone comes into my voice "Will it let me see through walls?"

I make a route towards the building that will put us at the wall.  Allowing us to listen for any signs of life or danger before actually entering the building.

"Max range is twenty-five feet. It can look through walls, but the denser the less effective. You have to tune it to look at the range you want to. Oh, yeah, denser, um, things like lead or really solid stone walls would stop it utterly.  Try to avoid using it to look through load-bearing walls if you can since that probably won't work that well."  The voice is new, and a bit uncertain.

You just see a steady stream of white smoke coming out of the doorway, and then you look in, and the elevator is open.  Walking in, you see that the smoke is escaping from the heavily smoldering control panel which looks like it got tore up severly by someone with a serious grudge against elevators and a bladed weapon.

"I'm back. Had to check on something." It's C's voice again. "There should be a panel in the bottom under the carpet which you can unscrew with the power mini-screwdriver on your utility belt.  And that should lead you to the shaft. Or we can walk you through the reconnecting the elevator controls."

PT

I put the scanner away and take the screwdriver off my belt as I head toward the elevator shaft.  I kneel down and pull up the carpet then I pause   "How long would it take to reconnect the elevator controls?"

As I wait for an answer I stand up and take a look around the room for anywhere someone could be hiding.  Hopefully whoever holds a grudge against the elevator isn't still around.

"Five to fifteen minutes, Miss Alexis." Comes back another voice. "I'm the head janitor at Parsifal House. If you do this, I'll need you to keep your faceplate as much as possible toward the damage so that I can see the damage."

Vlad manages to get the hatch opened, and down below in the dark, he shines a powerful flashlight.

"Five stories down. Don't see anyone. See five levels off the main shaft. Does this place have an exit?"

"Already covered Vlad. Not been used, but we have a kill zone set up around it just in case." C replies.

"Da, is good." Vlad grunts.

PT

"Nevermind we'll just rappel down."   I walk over to where Vlad is looking down the shaft and unhook my rope off of my belt. "Would you like to go fiist Vlad?"

I look around for somewhere to tie off my rope.

Vlad laughs.

"Not really, but lets do it." You tie off the rope to a railing around the edge of the elevator, and Vlad starts lowering himself.  With a gulp, you lean back, and then lean back further, and then start descending.

Once you let go, there's a moment of sheer perfect exhilaration, and then its lost in the steady work of lowering yourself.  Still, you can see why people go rappelling for fun.

You drop down to the first door, Level One is printed on the door along with the name of the manufacturers, Roark Enterprises, Ltd..  The door is shut.

"Go on, or go in here?" Vlad asks.

PT

I look down at Vlad surprised   "I thought you knew. Umm....I don't know.  "  I take a deep breath and wish I could rest my burning hands for a minute.  "Let's just go straight to the reactor and take care of it first.  Then we'll check for survivors and other damage."

"Knew? Alexis, I know how to shoot, how to make a fire in five feet of snow, how to skin and cut up a moose or a rat and make it dinner. I really know how to hold my vodka although I'm trying to quit, although right now, I'm wishing I hadn't. I also know how to raise zombies."  He laughs. "This is more your world than mine. In mine we fought the Great Patriotic War, what you call WW2, and Brendansland did not come to our aid."  He laughs, and begins to lower himself.

"Don't hold the rope so tightly. In fact, if you need to rest, just pull it underneath your bottom, and hold it there. It will do it well."

You try it, and indeed it works.  But your hands are still warm by the time you drop down to the bottom of the fourth floor."

"Nyet." Vlad says waving a hand. "Stop. Trap."

You see that they have an asterisk shape of fine wire strung in the midst of the shaft.  There's some space between the wires since its eight wires for a fifteen foot square space, but you're close to the center where the grid is tightest.

PT

I Look at the wires strung across the shaft and then to Vlad " Vlad I trust you with my life.  You obviously have more experience than I do at stuff like this. So....any suggestions on how to get past this?  Or do you want to stop at level four and find another way down the rest of the way?"

He looks at it for about ten minutes.

"Okay-dokey. These wires lead to this box which leads to that bomb on the brakes of the elevator. We set it off, and the elevator comes crashing down."

He tries to rub his face, but can't.

"In combat, always take the hard road. The easy road is the one they expect,and they have guards on it.  Besides, they seem to want to keep us away from the fifth floor. Makes me curious."

He and you start swinging on the line until you both grab a cable along the wall.  And then both of you lower yourself, an inch at a time through the hole. Once on the other side, Vlad sweats as he uses a pry bar to open the elevator about a foot. You're still climbing through when you tag a wire, and

bwoom! above you...

PT

"Vlad get out now!  I'm right behind you!"

I put my feet to the wall and shove outward.  Then I begin to let myself down quickly aiming myself towards the open elevator door.  I'm hoping I can swing through it on my return swing.

You bounce off the wall, and slash through the metal wires, and come flying back toward the door.  Vlad is already on the other side, and is trying to widen it a little bit...

You feel your ears pop, and a sense of a mountain falling on you is imminent, trying to make you freeze up, shatter your nerves, but you push it away, and as you come back...

You angle your body to the right to more easily fit through the narrow passage, and Vlad dives out of the way, and you ...are shot through like a tennis ball out of an air cannon to roll wildly across the next room, and whump up against the far wall about twenty feet away as the air pressure from the falling elevator seeks a way out.

PT

I quickly get up and unhook the rope from my belt just in case the elevator decides to take it along for the ride the rest of the way down.  Then I immediately look at my watch to see how far we are into the first O2 bag.

I walk over to Vlad.  "I am sorry about that. Thank you for your quick work on the doors."

I check out the areas of my suit I can see for any damamge.  Then I start looking over Vlads suit for any damage.  "Will you return the favor and check my suit over for any damage please?"

As Vlad is checking over my suit I take the opportunity to look around the room.  It just dawned on me that we may not be alone although I think we'd have known it by now if we weren't.  "Anyone know where we go from here to get to the reactor?"  I ask over the comm device.

You look about a third of the way through the bag.  Both your suits check out.

The room is a changing room filled with hazmat suits hanging along the walls.  And then you feel your gorge rising as you realize one of the suits is occupied, but hanging on the wall.  With a fierce effort of will, you hold back your vomit for throwing up in your suit would be a disaster.

You make your way over to the occupied suit, and see inside the blue rubber oversuit is a man in substantial pain.  Vlad comes up, and pulls him down.

"They." Cough "Said" Cough. "That I was left here as a warning to anyone for what awaited them unless they turned back.  Gave me the Fast-Acting Q45 Variant of Ebola. Seven hours from infection to death. Aagggh, it hurts."

PT

A rage like none I have ever felt before fills me suddenly at the cold unfeeling actions of these people.  I pull my pistol and look over to Vlad "Do you want to continue on? I won't blame you if you want to turn back, but I am going on.  I can't let these people get away with this."

I ask whoever has the knowledge of these viruses. "Fast-Acting Q45 Variant of Ebola...is there any cure?  And where's that reactor?"

"No, Alexis, I shall not turn. These dogs who did this will eat a bullet."

And then he speaks in Russian.  The last has a ring like that of a regularly repeated oath.  There does seem to be some reflection is his gaze, and he looks at the palm of his hand before straightening up with his rifle to cover the doorway.

"Um, reactor, reactor, uh, go through the door, we're working on the code now, through the door, and down two hallways, and go left about fourty feet. We have two different maps here. One says go left three hallways, and the other says two. Not sure which is current."  You can hear the rustling of papers and the beeps of a computer over the link as background noise.

"If its been less than an hour, Tech Assistant Michael Jannsen has a chance. If not, our vaccine won't do any good.  Best guess, is he's been exposed at least four hours." C relays the bad news to you with a sombre tone. Then he adds with a tone just a trace savage. "Do what you need to do. You have full legal powers, understand? That comes from His Majesty, by the way."

PT

I squat down next to Tech Assistant Michael Jannsen "How long ago did they do this to you?"  I look up at Vlad and then back at the Tech Assistant swallowing hard "If it's been too long...."  I indicate my gun  "Do you want me to spare you any more pain?" 

I close my eyes at the thought of just shooting someone point blank  "Uh... can I do this without making the exposure problem any worse?"  I ask to noone in particular

"The room can't get any dirtier than it already is." You both hear on the link.

You hear a grunt from Vlad, and then see him binding up his hand with the repair fabric.  He then approaches Michael on the floor.

"A friend of mine did this for me. Gave me a chance at a new life elsewhere.  I want to give you the same chance. No promises that it will work, but it worked for me."

"You mean, become like one of the secret agents, the super agents of Parsifal House?"

"Something like that."

Michael nods, and then gasps. Vlad lets him lick off the bloody dagger, and then steps back.  Michael looks at you, and nods jerkily.  With his eyes closed, he begins to recite the 23rd Psalm...

PT

I stand up and put the gun to his chest aiming at his heart.  I close my eyes and say a prayer then I open them and squeeze the trigger.  I drop my arm to my side watching Michael's lifeblood draining from him.  I sigh and turn and walk away.

I stop just before I reach the door and replace the partial magazine with a full one.  I motion to Vlad.  "Let's go get this done."  Then with both hands on my gun I move to the wall on one side of the door frame and search whatever part of the room I can see for any indication of danger.  At the same time I motion Vlad to do the same from the other side of the door frame

As the last shudder hits him, you see Michael begin to smile, just a faint bit. And then its done.

You start to turn, and you hear a rustle.  You look back, and his hazmat suit is empty, crumpling to the floor unoccupied.

"So that is what it looks like." Vlad says with a stunned tone.  Faintly, you're aware that this is probably the first time you've heard Vlad act really shocked.  He goes over there, and jabs the suit with the bayonet on his autorifle.  It moves as one would expect for an empty suit.

From over by the door, you can look into the next room, and see cages of monkeys.  The monkeys are screaming, and you can hear this faintly next to the very solid door.

"Code is figured out, Alexis. Type in 'The Uberman makes his own law.'"  Your link goes active. "I think thats a paraphrase from Nietsche."

PT

I motion to Vlad to get on the other side of the doorway.  When he is close enough I speak to him in a stage whisper hoping anyone who might be in the next room can't hear me.  "Those monkeys are very upset by something.  I'm betting they aren't alone in there.  I don't see anything from my angle.  If your angle is clear we will enter the room guns ready.  I will take the side I can see right now.   You take the side you can see.

With my gun ready I check to see Vlad is ready.  "On three.  One...two... three!" 

You slam the door open, and bolt into a cacophonous wave of screams, and shrills so much that the thump to your right is almost unnoticed.  Pushed by fear, and pulled by rage, you are racing into this room of sterile stainless steel walls, and two mounded, and stacked islands made of cages of monkeys on tops of giant tables.

You can faintly see your opponent, a man, you think, in a leather jacket, on the far side of the mound of cages.  He's standing on the table edge on the far side.  You can barely get a glimpse of him through all the bars between you.

"Come and get me, SAS-boy. You know you want to. I've got a surprise for you, oh yes, I do..."  He carrols out.  To your right, you can see Vlad struggling with another man underneath his table island.  Both have knives out, and are locked in wrestling with each other.

PT

Keeping my gun aimed at the guy behind the cages I smile and yell out What makes you think your worth going after?!"

As I'm keeping the guy in conversation I glance around the room weighing my options. Then it dawns on me that these guys aren't wearing Hazmat suits.  I look back at both guys trying to see if they are wearing a mask of any sort.  Maybe the contaminated air will take care of them for me. It would serve them right.

To keep his attention I yell at the guy again "You coward come on out and fight like a man!"

No, they are not wearing suits. So, they are both the walking dead as soon as you opened the door from the other room, if not before then.  Which means they are either highly dedicated, have some other protection, or got lied to.

However, they seem healthy right now, and rather enthused about killing you and Vlad.

"Come on over here, and I'll come out, and take you on."

He tosses something grenade like over the top of the 'island'.  You can see its not a grenade, but to get clear of it, you'll have to jump out into the open.  Or you can stand your ground....

PT

I look at the object that he's thrown over the top of the cages.  It doesn't look to be a gernade and I'm tired of messing with this idiot.  I run up an put all my weight against the cages and then do a leap tuck and roll out to the open area and then back to my feet with my gun still aimed at the guy when I'm done.  I'm hoping to dislodge the guy and get away from whatever he's thrown at mt at the same time.    I just hope my lessons with the sensei stick with me now.

You hear a yelp as he's dumped off the table edge, and a thump as he hits the ground.  You come out of your roll with your gun aimed at the tattooed skinhead, while a small purple fog drifts out from the can.

The fog reaches the first monkey, and it goes berserk. Screaming, foaming frenzy.  It starts to shake its cage with hideous strength, and you're not sure its cage is going to hold.

The skinhead looks up at you with fear in his face.

"Hey, SAS its okay, you got me."  You hear a thunk, thunk from behind you.

PT

I have no time to think and no time to waste.  I pull the trigger.  When I'm sure the guy went down I swing around to see what's going on behind me.

You put one bullet into his thigh, and he fires back high, and you continue shooting even as he does with both being clean misses, and then he scoots back, and you take another shot sparking off the wall...and he is out of your line of fire.

He's doing something to a cage, and you turn and look to see Vlad fumbling to retrieve his rifle with the bad guy having a knife stuck in his chest.

PT

Good Vlad is doing ok.  I motion Vlad to go around the table the other way and then I head around the table after the guy.  I cannot let him open any of those cages.  I have no idea what if any deseases those monkeys carry.

I edge around the table making sure to keep close.  Thus limiting his view of me.  As I move close to the table I have an idea.  I squat quickly take aim and shoot at his knee.

You hear a clang as you circle around, and then what sounds like a taser.  You shoot the thug in the leg, missing his knee, and he screams.  His scream is suddenly cut off.

And you see a beautiful silverback monkey round the corner of the cages near his body.  It looks at you contemplatively as the other monkeys scream, and as it stands over the thug's body.

A crashing noise behind you as the maddened monkey knocks his cage down to the floor in a wild tumble that takes loose several other cages, and blocks your path back.

PT

I take a quick look at my watch hoping that all this messing around with those idiots hasn't used up all our O2 bag.

I look back at the monkey keeping my gun trained on him.  "Vlad where are you!?  I can't back up .  Mt path is blocked with these cages that mad monkey knocked over.  And I have a loose monkey staring at me as I speak.  Can you see the thug? Is he down?"

As I speak to Vlad I keep a close eye on the monkey.  I am prepared to shoot it if I have to.  "Vlad I also have a flashbang gernade I can use if necessary.  Just give me the word.  I don't want to blind you."

You see the monkey bend down and pick up the fallen thug's pistol.  But thats okay because a monkey can't use a gun.  Then it pops the clip, and checks to see if there are bullets, and slams the clip back home.  It ratchets the slide, and the gun is ready to fire as the monkey with wise, amused eyes stares at you, and slides the tip of its fingernail into the trigger space behind the trigger guard.

"Leather jacket is dead. Um, looks like his neck was broke."  Vlad says. "Yell 'Stoli' if you are going to flashbang. That always made me close my eyes in appreciation."

He seems to be working his way around to the other corridor between the wall and the island that leads to the pistol armed monkey.

PT

My eyes widen a bit in surprise as the monkey picks up the weapon and checks the clip just like it was a normal thing to do.  This monkey is intelligent!  Keeping my gun aimed at the monkey I attempt to talk to it. "Do you understand me?  I mean you no harm.  I am here to fix things so that nothing or noone else gets harmed."

I can't help but notice the look in his eyes.  I would almost believe this isn't a monkey but a human in costume.  But if it is someone in costume it's a very good costume.

I speak into my comm unit "I have what seems to be a very intellegent silverback monkey standing here with a gun in his hands.  Does anyone out there know who this monkey is and if he is dangerous?"

"Say again?" You hear on the com link as the monkey draws down on you his face transforming into bestial rage.

"Monkey. Intelligent. Has Gun." You snap out.

"Um. Yes, ma'am. Project Ascension. I found the file. Genetically engineered monkeys. Half should be intelligent. The other half a control. Not as smart as a human, but definitely brighter than a monkey. Virus insertion of new DNA into their genetics. Says must not allow outside of containment as the virus is very contagious, and can pass from monkey to human. Airborne. Says they know sign language."

The monkey snarls at you.

PT

"I dpn't know any sign language. I have to take him down!"  Once again I have no choice. I can't let this monkey get out of here and I don't know sign language.  So I take careful aim and shoot aiming for his heart.

"Vlad! What's taking you so long to get over here?!  I sure could use some help!"

Your bullets erupt from your gun as a surprise, which is the way it is supposed to be. You doubletap the monkey to the heart, and let the recoil pull the gun up to do once to the head in what is known as the Mozambique drill.  It falls over with a puzzled look on its face permanently frozen there.

A stutter of bullets from Vlad hammer it as it goes down, and sling its body against the wall.

"Hold!" You holler. And Vlad stops. Tne monkey slides down the stainless steel wall leaving a smear of blood like sheeted rainwater behind.

Sadly, you crabwalk under the table, and out to where Vlad is.

"Lets go, tovarisch."  He says, and you decode the next door, and cross a surgical chamber, and enter the next door's code, and arrive in a short, drear hallway only lit by emergency lights.

Beyond that is CubicleLand.  On the other side somewhere is the reactor. Evidently the maps have not kept up with the building.  You hear frustrated cursing on the link.

PT

I switch out my partial clip once again for a full one.  Then I take another look at my watch to see how much time is left on our O2 bags.  Feels like I am constantly looking at my watch but I don't want to let our bags run out.

I give Vlad a puzzled look when I hear the cursing on the link.  "What's up guys?"  I ask over the link.  "Please tell me you know where the reactor is."

If our bags are still ok I motion to Vlad to follow me and continue through cubicleland.

Forty minutes gone by, and you think there is a slight change to the way the air tastes.

"Put your left arm out. Rotate it fifteen degrees to the left. Stop." Your arm is pointing directly at an eight foot tall cubicle wall. "Thats where the reactor is, in that direction. Unfortunately, we don't have a map for the cubicles. In fact, our maps say this is supposed to be a neat grid of offices, but obviously the updates to the central blueprints haven't been done in time. Some low level buearaucrat is going to get fired."

A long pause.

"Yes, we know where the reactor is, but we're not sure how to get you there." C interjects.

PT

I motion to my watch and say to Vlad  "Mark your time. We will change O2 bags in 10 minutes."

I look around the room and start heading to the doorways.  "Lets see if they have a fire escape map in this place.  Maybe that will help us to find the reactor."

You find a fire escape map relatively quickly, but your ten minutes are up before you realize that the map does not jive with reality, and that the little indentations, rectangular bars, in the carpet mean something.

The cubicles have been recently moved.  Indeed, most cubicles don't even have desks in them.  They are completely unfurnished.

You feel a stroke of worry run down your neck, and then Vlad is helping you change the bags.  It goes smoothly.

"Another hour for these bags." Vlad says deliberately stating the obvious just to make sure.

PT

I help Vlad to change the bags and then with that worry off my mind for the moment I examine the marks on the floor.  They are indentions from where the cube walls used to be.

Vlad we have a map of the original cubical layout.  If we look at the floor we can see markings where the walls use to be.  Maybe we can find our way out using these."

Its slow painstaking work, but you feel like you are on your way.  You've come three-fourths of the way across the room, and then ran into a dead end.  And had to backtrack, and find another route.

But with the aid of your map, and the markings you feel like you should be able to defeat this maze, for that is what it obviously is.  Perhaps another ten minutes.  You've been fifteen minutes at it so far.

PT

Frustrated and angry at whoever did this I continue with Vlad trying to find our way through this maze.  "We are getting somewhere I think.  I just wish it wasn't eating up so much of our time."

In my frustration I lash out at those on the receiving end of the com "I hope you are all learning a lesson from this and are getting your act together at all other facilities around here.  I can't believe a facility as this has such shoddy management over important details such as knowing what is where and having it documented for just such a case as this."

"Indeed, Stalin would have many people shot for this. This is...is...state treason." Vlad says with the same emphases and abject horror that some might use to say 'human sacrifice'.

"I can assure you that we will look into this. Either incompetence or malice will be dealt with, most thoroughly."  C says.

As he starts to say something more, Vlad says.

"Nyet. Nyet. Shut up already."  You look at him.  And then you hear a faint whirring noise coming down the corridor you just came from.  A quick look around the corner, and you see something about the size of a golf court, but made of shiny steel, and having several cameras, and at least two guns pointing out the front at you.

You jerk back around the corner as a stutter of automatic fire comes from it down the corridor you just pointed your head into.

"Golem." Vlad mutters. "God truly hates me."

PT

"Just what we need another stupid delay"  I quickly take inventory of the space we are in to see if there is anything in this particular cubical.  I'm to the point where I just want to start knocking the walls down.  I'm so tired of this maze and these stupid little games these people are playing.

I speak into the comm again Do any of you know anything about any automated security bots.  About the size of a golf cart with lots of cameras and guns?"

"We've got the video. Hmm, enhancing, uh, no there should not be any here. Ah, Maxim, you very bad boy. You're being careless, or what? Hmm." C clears his throat. "Thats a Heidigger Industries Security Robot, Type IV.  Its bullet resistant to anything you have, and it sports a modified M-16 and a flamethrower on its front, a submachine gun on its right and left, and a robotic hook and arm plus a grenade launcher on its back.

It weighs seventeen hundred pounds, and supposedly has a maximum speed in constrained spaces of ten miles per hour.

Its a self-controlled machine with a good program although without actual intelligence. Such is impossible in this world, I think.  I've tried.

If its here, that means the attackers brought it with them, and that means we are going to be visiting Mr. Heidigger very soon for an explanation.  These things are supposed to be controlled, and only sold to Nato countries, or Japan."

PT

"Ok Vlad here's the plan.  I'm going to throw a flashbang gernade out at it.  I'm hoping to short circut or burn out the photoreceptors.  If that works then we'll dump these walls on top of the thing  and disable it's movement."

I pull out a flashbang gernade.  "Ok on three I'll pull the pin give a count of two and pitch it.  One...Two...Three.."  I pull the pin  "One...Two..."  pitch and cover my eyes hoping Vlad has his covered.

You go with your plan, and the grenades flash outward.  Vlad's goes off, and you expect yours to in a ...

BANG!!

Right in front of you...the machine tossed yours back to you with its grappling arm.  You and Vlad stumble about with Vlad holding his stomach.  You're dazed, and bright spots are in front of your eyes, but from what  you've heard it should be worse.

"Ow." Vlad moans still holding his stomach.  The machine comes around the corner, but ten feet from you, and it fires off a burst into the ceiling.  Smoke seems to be coming from its camera, and its gun is skewed up.

However, it seems to realize this, and it begins to rotate on the spot to turn another gun, and a possible still effective camera your way.

PT
OOC: Good plan, but poor roll.

I barely see the bot attempting to aim a different weapon at us. Using the time it takes the bot to rotate.  I grab Vlads arm and drag him up the row of cubicals to the next opening.  I grab another flash gernade, pull the pin and throw it down the hallway towards to bot.  Then swing back into the cubical and shove Vlad to face a wall away from the hallway shielding my face in his back at the same time.

BOOM!

The flashbang goes off, and before you can move, Vlad has slipped around the corner, and charges the thing.  You come around the corner just in time to see him stick his autorifle next to the notch cut in the outside armor for the gun to fit through, and he opens fire on full auto emptying a clip into the guts of the creature.

He backs up, and you can see he cut the rubber guard away with the bayonet in his left hand to insert the gun, and that smoke and sparks are coming from the hole.

PT

I quickly follow Vlad out into the hallway.  I look at the smoke coming out of the bot and grin.  "Great Job Vlad!" 

I look around trying to get my bearings and start looking for the way to the reactor again.  "Come on we need to get moving and find that reactor.  The clock is ticking fast."

  You keep looking, and after another ten minutes you see smoke hazing the air down near the end of the room where the security robot was blasted.

"Outside air temperature has gone up five degrees in the last two minutes. Make that six degrees. Alexis, Vlad, you need to get out of that room fast."  The voice of C prompts you to sudden action.

So far, you've covered between half and three-fourths of the room you estimate.

PT

I sigh disgustedly in to the comm "Yeah we know that.  And we would have been out of here a long time ago if you people had your act together!"

I've had enough of this messing around.I start following the wall hoping to find a door.  When I meet up with a wall I just shove it out of the way. "Let's just follow the wall around the room and look for a door.   Any walls in pur way will be moved.  We need to find a door now!"

You follow the wall around the room, and right into a cubicle path that is catching on fire.  It seems cubicles flame up quite nicely.

"Alexis!" Vlad shouts. "You Brendanslanders are too polite. A true soldier loves to break things."  He confers on his link as you both run away from the fire.  He holds out his arm as the watchers direct his direction to give the watchers something to see with their verser satellites.

Then he starts using his bayonet to chop a path through the cubicles.  Its slow going as cuts a hole, but then he's through, and you're following him.  At the end of this path, you can see the flame coming down the hall, eating cubicles, and licking up carpet.

"Through the next wall. Straight ahead. You are in the center of the room." C says.

PT

"Ok Vlad we need to step this up a bit."   I pull out my halagan tool and start working on the cubical walls with him.  "We don't stop until we get to the wall of the room."  I glance at my watch again  knowing I'm not going to like what I see.  I just hope it won't take long to do what we have to with that reactor.

"By the way C How is it you can tell us we are in the center of the room but you can't tell us how to get out of here?"

You have eight minutes left on this bag according to your watch.  And after that one bag for the two of you.


"Alexis. Vlad. We're pulling this together as quickly as we can. We can see either of you to within a one meter resolution.  If you hold out an arm away from your body, we can see where you are pointing.  And we have a map of the load-bearing walls we have just made by erasing all the obviously old data, and we can integrate these.  But what we don't have is a map of the maze you are in."

You and he hack your way through the walls, keeping just one step ahead of the fire for one, then two, then three, and finally the last wall. And now you are standing in a corridor on the far edge of the room.  It runs up and down the wall, with no entrances back into the maze.  The intruders had rearranged the whole cubicle area to make it a maze without an exit.

"Open the door to your left, hopefully, their is one, otherwise we are out of luck.  The reactor control room should be on the other side of the door, and down two flights of stairs, and through another door."

You see a door to your left, and a brand new code box with a bomb attached to it.

PT

I hold out my arm so they can see what we see.  "Yep there's our door and there's the bomb that's attached to it.  We have eight minutes left on our bags and a code to figure out and a bomb to diffuse.  Any of you guys got any brilliant ideas to get us out of this mess?"

I turn to Vlad "Do you know anything about disarming bombs?"

They can see your body with their satellites because you are a verser (even through solid matter), and so they can see your arm, and they can see that it is pointed in a certain direction.  But they get video through your faceplatek which is uplinked via the neutrino radio.

"Look at the codebox."  The guy on the link says. "Maybe we can figure it out. We got the other ones."

"No. But perhaps if I shoot it?"  Vlad says shrugging.  "I'd want to back up down this corridor if I do that.  "There is no rush, Alexis. We have one bag left. That will give you an hour easy."

PT
OOC: Yes, my uplink guys could have been more competent, but its a hard balance to keep since you're supposed to be the star.  And while I'm aware that it never happens in spy movies that blueprints are changed and not filed...I rather suspect that its all too common in real life.  Plus of course, the bad guys deliberately created a maze without an exit, and imported a minotaur for the maze.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:49, Sat 10 Dec 2005.

I look at Vlad shaking my head  "No I'm not letting you do that!  Your life is every bit as important as mine.  Mybe more so as you have more experince and training than I do."

I walk over and look at the box and the bomb it's attacked to to see how complicated it looks and what kind of bomb it is.  Will it just blow a hole in the wall or will it blow the whole room.  I motion to Vlad to take a look at it too.   "Let's make sure it's not going to blow the whole place up before you shoot it."

OOC: I can understand about the balance.  Alexis just doesn't like incompetancy very much.  And even though she knows she won't really die this is her first world.  Her internal instincts of self preservation and of saving others are still there.  Therefore the frustration of not being able to keep both herself and Vlad alive in this world are getting to her.  Also I think I may be misinterpreting some of your posts. IE: What they can see. And how they see it.

"I have more experience shooting people. But this situation requires subtlety as well.  And knowledge. You have those."  Vlad says. "But we will try to save me as well. I'm not eager to go elsewhere."

You look at the bomb, and it seems familiar. You look at the control mechanism, and something about it just bugs you.  Nevertheless, you can see that its not a building blasting bomb.

So you both back up, and Vlad puts three bullets in it from fifty feet away.

KA-Boom!

Dust races down the corridor, and fills the air.  Warring against your instincts, you head into the maelstrom of dust, holding on to Vlad's belt.

Suddenly he stops.

"We blew a hole in the wall, and the door, but also in the stairs beyond it."

The dust clears a bit.  Vlad and you are standing on the edge of a precipice.  Ten feet away, and five feet down in a stairwell off from the cubicleland room, a metal staircase goes down to a landing, and then down to the floor, and the reactor control room door.  Below you is about thirty feet,and the tangled remains of the staircase that was blasted free.

OOC: Understand and agree.  And this is actually my first time running a spy novel setting. I've ran D&D, and Vampire, and Champions Superheroes.  Multiverser has opened up a lot of different vistas for me.

And I'm scratching my head with trying to make the support team competent, but not too helpful.  Its easy to make them klutzy (like I have) or all-knowing.  And now Jesse wants wise and terrible advice from the Shepherd...aargh. I think I will make a post on this problem...get some advice from the other players.

PT

I look down the gaping hole with a frown.  "Well let's go search the cubicals we can get to.  If I remember right there are usually extention cords running to them for equipment, lights and what not.  maybe we can use them to make a rope of some sort."  I turn to go look in and around the first cubical.

The first cubicle has an abundance of extension cords. The second cubicle you see is on fire.  The fire is sweeping the room, aided by the new oxygen you both just gave to it.

You can hear the roar and crackle through the suit now, and feel the heat.

You rush back, and both of you start tying cords together to make a rope as an occasional flame reaches out through the doorway to flick your suit.

Suddenly Vlad runs back into the flames, while meanwhile you hear over the link...

"Go, go, go now. You want to save Vlad? Go!"  You hang near the edge of the precipice as flames rise higher, and ...

PT

I quickly attach a piece of angled bracket I grabbed off of one of the cubical walls to the end of the makeshift rope.

Looking down I realize I can't really climb straight down a get anywhere.  So I look above me in the stairwell for something to try to attach it to.  I'm hoping I can swing across to the staircase.

I say to whoever is listening "What is Vlad up to?"

There's rafters above you, and you throw it up.  No dice.  But then you remember your sensei's lessons on improvised weapons, and imagine it was a guy who were throwing your 'weapon' at.

Klunk.  The dull clink of metal on metal sounds sweeter than Beethoven.

You swoop across, and your stomach yelps, but the thrill of nearly flying exceeds that, and your heart is singing as you land.

"Don't know." The laconic reply comes back. "He just asked if the suit would surive some fire."

And then Vlad bursts from the flames, smoke pouring off him, and you throw back the rope, and he joins you. Both you hustle down the steps with you trying to communicate, but he signs that the link is gone.

Perplexed you race down the steps to the last door. And there is a code protection on the door....fury rises within you at all these difficulties, but then like a dash of cold water you realize you recognize the style of the code.

Roark's style.

I look at the code giving C and the others a view of it too.  "I recognize this code!  This is Roark's work!"

I start moving the code around just like I did in class a grin spreading across my face.  He is so predictable with his codes. Not much variance.  With my experience with Roark's works and Vlad's help with the Russian we make quick work of the code.

I look at Vlad with a smile as I reach for the door handle.  Then suddenly Roark's smirking face invades my mind and I pause.  I want to check this door for any traps before we open it."

I start looking around the frame, doorknob and lock for any signs of a trap. If I find none I motion Vlad to one side of the door and I stand at the other with my gun ready. I reach out and carefully turn to handle pushing it open and leading with my gun into the room.

There is a simple trap, a metal pin taped to the bottom of the door, which would probably scratch an igniter.  A few seconds with a pair of needlenose pliers and Vlad has it pulled free.

"Stupid." He mumbles through his face plate.

You open the door, hoping and feeling safe, but not sure. This could be it...after all.

But no, the door swings open, you both step through, and you close the door.  Behind it is a bag of powder and nails--a primitive shrapnel bomb, and an ignition strip next to it--an advanced tech piece of paper that you could rub with your fingers and light.

The air is your chief worry right now.

Vlad tosses you the last bag, and takes off his helmet before you can rush over to stop him.

"Ah, good, smoky air." He strips off the rest of his suit. "I have gambled it is true. But the fire in the room, and the distance should keep any airborne bugs from following me.  And the fire I jumped in should have cleaned any bugs off the outside of my suit. I hope."

His suit is a blackened, and slightly melted mess that he kicks into the corner where it falls into a hole cut into the floor.

PT

Having no other choice I change out my bags.  "You know me too well Vlad. You knew I wouldn't take this bag any other way."  I give him look that says I really wish you hadn't done that but thank you.

After I get my bag changed and I'm sure the room is clear I ask Vlad to watch my back and I head over to the reactor and check it over looking for the controls.   "Would you guys mind refreshing my memory on that code?"

It takes about fifteen minutes, but you slowly and with great care talk the nuclear reactor into behaving properly, while the link team gives you a steady stream of advice.

Some of it not so comforting...

"Move this handle up a half. No more, unless you want to see what the Earth looks like from orbit."

But by the end, you feel almost comfortable.  The floor throbs, and the lights come back on.

"Vlad, Alexis." C says over a background of general cheers. "I would like the convey the personal thanks of His Majesty.  And mine as well, also the rest of Parsifal House is going to be breaking out the good stuff tonight."

PT

I grin over at Vlad "Let's get out of here!" I gather up all my equipment and prepare to leave.  Suddenly I look at Vlad my smile disappearing "Um...The elevator is broke and we blew up the stairs.  How are we gonna get out of here?"

"Good news. Bad News. More Bad News." You hear over the link. "The hole in the floor must be an escape hatch. Bad news is the bad guys must have used it.  More bad news is that since you haven't seen any scientists, and the way the maze was constructed, well, there's a real good chance the scientists were taken with the bad guys.

Happily, you both foiled their attempt to cover their tracks."

You both go over, and see a perfectly smooth hole leading down into the dark.

"Looks like it was cut by a laser, but an awfully powerful one."

"Of course, they had a nuclear reactor to power it."

PT

I look closer hoping I can see if there is a ladder or something there without having to use any light to give away the fact that we are behind them.

"Well Vlad I guess we're not quite done yet."  I pull out my gun making sure it's still attached to the lanyard.  Then I prepare to head down the hole if it appears to be safe.

It appears to be safe, but there is no ladder.  However, Vlad shows you a climbing technique.  Lower yourself into the hole, and press on both sides with your knees and calves and feet.  Then as you slide down a bit further, do the same with your hands and forearms.

If you really need to brake, push with full force, and put your back into the wall.

It seems mildly insane, but the only other choice seems to be to look the control panels for cables they won't miss which the link team thinks will take at least thirty minutes.

So...

PT

I look at Vlad with a raised eyebrow.  Then with a sigh I rehoslter hy gun and then  I start to lower myself into the hole and begin moving down as Vlad had shown me how to do.  "I hope it's not very far down." 

You start on down hearing noises which eventually you decide are the waves which means this tunnel must lead to a sea cave....

OOC: Definitely time for a dice roll, since while this is not really hard to do, it is something that gets harder over time as you get rapidly exhausted, and failure is well, really, really dangerous.

Congratulations. Excellent dice roll. Put down a 1@3 Tunnel Climbing skill.

PT

I proceed on down the tunnel.  As my arms and legs starting aching the thought crosses my mind that I didn't get my wish for a short climb.  As I get farther down into the hole I hear waves.  Oh great! I've had to do just about everything else today why not go for a nice swim too."

I keep moving down the walls the crashing of waves getting louder.  Suddenly my foot kicks out to full leg extention and I realize I have reached the bottom of the hole.

I take a quick look down to see how far down it is to the floor and what is beneath me.  If it's not to far down and I can land safely I put my hands against the wall and lower my legs.  Then I drop down....

You plop into the water, and come to land on your feet. Your head is just above the waves.  It seems you are standing on a bench of rock.  In the suit you are comfortable.

Vlad drops into the water, and starts to swear in Russian for a long stretch.

"Not to interrupt, the water is rising. It will fill the cave in about twenty minutes.  You can wait to be rescued, or you can try to get out the cave entrance, and to the beach just right of the sea cave."

It seems likely that there was a boat right here, but back then the tide was lower.

PT

I can help laughing at Vlad.  I hold back my laughter as a voice comes over the comm link.  "Ok I we'll head for the beach. "

I head towards what looks to be the entrance of the cave. I try walking around the edge shuffleing my feet carfully hoping the shelf will at least get me most of the way out of the cave.

A sudden thought enters my mind and I stop to look at Vlad "Can you make it without freezing to death?  I can't really tell how cold the water is inside this suit."

"Da, I can make it.  I've waded the Volgo being chased by German machine guns, and pushing aside floating chunks of ice."  He grimaces, and begins to breathe more strenuously and deliberately.

"Force more oxygen into body. Body warm up."

You walk along the edge, and make it to about ten feet from the mouth of the cave.  From there, its a swim.  The first time you are pushed back, but then you figure you ought to go with the ebbing wave rather than into an incoming wave.  You and Vlad make it out, and up onto a beach.

There the two of you wait.

"Five minutes, people. And we'll have a chopper with isolation gear near you."

PT

I stand on the beach watching Vlad shivering and wishing I could give him my suit.  I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the chopper appear in the horizen.

We are rushed on board by a couple of guys in hazmat suits and taken to some facility I had never been to before and decontamitated.  It felt so good to get out of that suit.

I turn to look at the guy in the lab coat who walks in the door of the room I'd been left in.  "How's Vlad? He didn't pick up any of those viruses did he?"

He gives you a quick assessing glance.

"We don't know. We have him in quarantine right now. He should be okay, but you can't tell.  He's going to be in there for at least a week, by the way.  Just to be sure for his own sake, and frankly for ours too.

You on the other hand, have a clean bill of health, except for some strained muscles, and general overexertion.  I would recommned two aspirins, a shower, and bed, but I hear C has other plans for you."

"Indeed." C says austerely from the doorway. He holds up a gold lame' dress.  "There's a party on a yacht you will be needing to attend. Tonight."

PT

I look at the beautiful gold dress and smile.  What woman wouldn't be happy to wear something so beautiful.  But as I start to walk over to take it from C my smile disappears as all my muscles start to protest all over again.

I keep moving hoping the achyness will ease a bit with movement.  I take the dress from C with a suspicious look.  "Why do I get the feeling that this isn't purely for pleasure?"

He gives you a grim smile.

"And saving the world isn't a pleasure?"  He sighs then. "Sometimes I feel like Atlas too, holding the world up on my shoulders."

"Um, have you seen that?"  The doctor says unable to stop his curiosity.

"No." C says repressively, and then he relents a bit. "Although I have seen an alien kraken from the star Riga sink a supertanker, if thats any consolation."

The doctor takes the hint and leaves.

"There was a yacht, well actually about a dozen ships nearby that could have picked up thirty scientists, and five to ten terrorists.  But this yacht is owned by James Roark, father of Howard Roark. And he is having a party tonight on his yacht in international waters. I need you to mingle, and then meander into his secrets, and then if necessary mangle anyone you decide needs justice."

PT

I look surprised C?  Are you.....um like me?"    I put a hand up "Nevermind I shouldn't have asked."  I'm suddenly ingrossed in my dress my cheeks a bit red.

I start walking around not liking the feeling I'm getting from this conversation  I look up again "Will I have back.....uh an escort for this party?  Are we concidering these scientists to be hostages or enemies?"

I walk behind a screen and start changing into my dress "What if any info do we have on these people?  What is it you want me to find out?"

I walk out from behind the screen carrying my gun and the handbag that goes with the dress.  My gun is obviuosly too big to fit in the bag without being noticable.  I look down at the form fitting dress "Uh where am supposed to carry a weapon or anything else?  Wait..Won't Roarke be suspicious of me?"

"Oh yes, I thought you knew. I've been here since 1955."  He looks at most thirty-five.  "Remember, to detect another verser, just relax, and sense them. And its not a problem. I ask you to jump into insane, suicidal situations. Its not unreasonable for me to answer a question or two.  Of course, a lot of what I know is Code Word Classified."  His dry, almost ordinary voice doesn't completely hide the keen and searching eyes in his face, or the intelligence behind the bland mask.

"Yes, you'll have an escort. Sir John.  The scientists are hostages, I would think.  And they are valuable to the nation, so do try not to break too many of them."

Sir John walks in a bit slowly.  He's an old white-haired gent, nearly seven feet tall, and old enough to be your great-grandfather.

"Sir John is supposedly your movie producer.  More accurately...well, I'll let you figure it out.  He will carry your gun, and any other equipment you may need.  Grenades, flashlight..laptop...fifty feet of rope, etc. What he will mostly do is sit in a stuffed chair, and drink bourbon, and maybe fall asleep."

"Yes, Roark will be suspicious of you. But not of Helen Wainwright. One of your identies we created.  Plus, she comes with a full mask in whatever hair color, nose shape, and skin color you like."

C is almost biting his lip to keep from laughing at some joke of his.

PT

I let the knowledge about "C" and detecting other versers sink to the back of my head for the time being.  I lift one foot and then the other and slip on the shoes that go with the dress.

I look up suddenly with a frown.  I don't really like having to rely on someone else for my equipment.  I sigh Guess I'll have keep close to Sir John at all times.

I look over as the door opens seeing an older gentleman walk in.  My eyes go quickly to C as he introduces Sir John .  I look back to Sir John with a nod "Hello".  I look from one to the other not sure how to ask this with out offending Sir John. "Umm ...No offense Sir John but how much training do you have?  I mean can I be comfortable in the fact that you have my back?"

I start gathering up my things "Ok where do I go for this transformation?"

"No young lady, I'm afraid not. After all, I think I look every one of my apparent seven decades. My job is to escort you, provide validity to your 'cover', and I can carry undetectibly up to five hundred pounds or up to five cubic feet of equipment in various small packages. I can also temporarily lift roughly two tons, but that would strain my back a bit, I think."  Sir John says, and then bows, reaches over, kisses your hand, and stands back up right.

You follow C to a dressing room where he has to tell Sir John with a sudden flash of irritation to stop following you.

Puzzled, you walk in, and get dressed. A makeup artist comes in, and helps you cover your bruises, and then puts on your facial mask.  You look back in the mirror, and you're someone else entirely.

"Since you're wearing a face mask, its safe to put this on. But whatever you do, don't lick your lips for five minutes afterwards, and don't kiss anyone you like."  She hands you a lipstick container, and it goes into your matching purse.

Then she puts on a half-dozen alternating silver and gold bangles. Each one has a different function, although the first is a throwing star with razor blades that pop out around the perimeter.

A belt that doubles as a twenty-five foot long rope with a grappling hook for a belt buckle.

Stilletto heels with real stilletos in the heel.

A mirrorcase/PDA

A fuel/air explosive mix for your face powder. A bit tricky to use.

Sunglasses with X-ray goggles built in.

A strangling cord with your necklace...powered.  Drop it over someone's neck, starts strangling, walk away....then it dissolves itself into liquid and mostly evaporates.

PT
OOC:
And if you want more, look over the sites Misty provided in the OOC thread. And fear not, Sir John can carry a lot.

I sit speachless listening to what everyone is telling me.  I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck in a James Bond movie.  Which really would be pretty cool if I wasn't the main character.  I mean James bond is fun to watch but I really don't want to get shot at or blew up.

'Umm...So is there anything in particular I'm supposed to be looking for?"

You add to your list, and they go get you all set up.  And once you are out in the hall, you see Sir John waiting patiently for you.  You walk with him quietly down to the elevator, and then over to C's office for a last minute briefing.  He doesn't speak unless spoken to, and most of his comments seem rather noncommittal.

You also note that the elevator shudders a bit when he gets on it.

You both arrive in C's office.  He begins to brief you, and your social instructor shows up as well, to add a few last minute tips on how to act in high society.

"We want to find out what Roark is up to. If that means breaking in to his offices on board the yacht where he keeps much of his data, or extracting it from him by seduction or more forceful techniques, you have the support of His Majesty's Government and Parsifal House.  We've acquired invitations for the both of you, and here they are."

He hands you both small gilt-edged cards.

"Now, Alexis, it is my joke, but it also a test. Who is Sir John?"

PT

Alexis looks C confused.  "A Test?"

She looks over at Sir John I should know him...

She lets everything she knows about him run through her mind.  But nothing clicks.

She looks back at C "What if I fail this test?"

He smiles.

"Its not that kind of test. Its more of a learning test.  But, I shall show you."

He pauses, and then looks at Sir John.

"Give the young lady her gun, Sir John."

"Of course." Sir John says, and then reaches up to the back of his head, and click, click, a plate comes off, and he reaches a hand into his head, and pulls out your pistol.  He then hands it to you, reversed so the gun is not pointing at you.

"He's a robot. Not a combat model, but the valet model.  Which means he has considerable space inside his rather large body for you to carry things.  He's got a limited repertoire of responses, and if he gets into trouble in a conversation, he is programmed to 'act forgetful'.  He is programmed to follow you around at a semi-random distance, unless you tell him otherwise. Which means you will have to tell him not to follow you into a dressing room. We still don't have him ready for use for Heads of State, but he's ready for you. Do try not to break him, the Development Team wanted me to tell you that he costs upwards of five million pounds.

And the lesson is, be observant. Notice small details."

PT

Alexis takes her gun with a smile. "I will do my best not to break him."

She hands her gun back to Sir John "You should probably hold on to this for me Sir John.  And thank you."

She looks him over closely "He's very well done.  Had me fooled.  But then I didn't look to closely at him.  I guess I didn't see the need to examnine an ally that close.  Lesson noted and I will be more observant from now on."

"Umm...Does he dodge well?  If this doesn't go any better than the last mission I have a feeling we will be doing a lot of dodging and hiding."

C looks nonplussed for a second.

"No, he doesn't dodge at all.  He is mostly bullet proof, although repeated shots will no doubt start to hurt him.  However, in worse case, if you don't have him punctured already, just order him to jump off the boat.  He'll sink, and then float underwater, and we can have a sub pick him up later.

We hope this mission will not involve so much physical exercise.  Its a party, and a little gentlewomanly breaking and entering. We hope."

About thirty minutes later, a limosine comes by, and takes you 'both' to the docks of London. From there, you board a water taxi which takes you out down the Thames, and into the Channel.  In the distance, as the sun goes down, you see an enormous yacht stretched along the horizon.

PT

I stare at the yacht as we approach and suddenly I have a case of nerves.  My heart starts racing and my palms are moist.  Oh my god  I think to myself.  I'm not ready for this.  I have no idea how to act with these kind of people.  I take a deep breath and close my eyes concentrating on relaxing.

Suddenly the taxi slows down and glides to a halt next to the yacht.  I open my eyes and smile at the driver as he offers me a hand. I accept and carefully make my way to step off onto the yacht taking the hand offered from the servant there.

After we are on board I introduce myself and Sir John. Then I open my bag to take out my invatation.

The first mate takes your tickets, bows, and gives you directions to the bar, the gambling room, and more discreetly to the restrooms.

"Please enjoy the hospitality of young master Howard Roark, and here's your intelligence test and pen.  Highest IQ wins a special prize."

He points over the side to a forty foot long cigarette boat with the name "Brainpower." that is tied up to the grandiose yacht.

You can hear the tinkling of jazz to your left, and the cries of dedicated gamblers to your right, and you recognize a US Senator getting cozy with a woman young enough to be his granddaughter to your right....

PT

I smile as I take the test and pen. "Who shall I give this to once I've completed it?" I nod as he answers "Thank you."

I stop at the restroom door. I better check and make sure the wind didn't mess up my hair on the trip out. I wouldn't want walk around with it sticking up. "I'll be right back Sir John. Please wait here for me."

After I finish in the restroom I put my hand on Sir John's arm and tell him " Let's go get something to drink. For some reason my mouth is really dry."

The first mate tells you to drop it off at the bar, or with any of the waiters.

You freshen up, just a bit, not much is needed, and feeling butterflies in your stomach join Sir John.

He says.

"Sounds like an excellent idea."  One of his fifty or so automatic responses.  He comes with you.  You both enter a glittering bar room decorated with green velvet, and brass, and small brass statues of brilliant people.

Many are smoking, but the room is open to the sea air, and its not bad.  You walk up to the bar, and after you order, Sir John orders a gin and tonic.

Across the room, you see a young Englisman in a suit telling a pair of Saudi princes in their brilliant white robes a joke whose punchline seems to be that Prime Minister Rose McCrutcheon and His Majesty are both astoundingly stupid.  The Saudis are enjoying it.

"So how are you doing on the IQ test?" A woman asks Sir John.

"Not a problem." He replies. And then he starts listing off the answers with the kind of perfect knowledge a computer would have.

PT

I order a ginger ale and look at my test.  I fill in the answers as best I can and then give the pen and paper to the bartender.

I pick up my drink and walk around semmingly just to mingle.  As I "mingle" I head in the direction of the joke teller.  I know how Roark feels about this country so this fellow may be a good place to start.

You're having a moderately hard time on the test.  You glance over at your robot buddies' test, and you can see he has answered everyone of them textbook accurately correct.

He is ready to turn his in, but is waiting on you. Eventually, you get finished, however you do that, and ...

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

You walk over to the joke teller, and he is in the midst of another not very funny joke whose punch line is how smart he is, and how dumb the average man in the street is.

He gives you a not entirely friendly glance as he continues his trained seal act for the rich Saudi princes.

After he finishes that joke, everyone introduces themselves.

"Prince Faroq, Prince Abdul, Sir Kevin Mayson...I'm a stockbroker in the City, and you...?"

"I am a film director, and this young lady is my newest star." Sir John says.

PT

I sigh and shrug as I hand my test paper to the bartender. I know I won't win.  What would I do with a boat anyway.  I really doubt it would go with me when I versed out.

I give the joker a confused look hoping he will be thrown off by my wondering about his anger. Then I turn and smile a greeting at the gentlemen "Helen Wainwright.  Nice to meet you."

"Indeed. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Wainwright." Prince Faroq bows.  "Indeed, it is a pleasure to be in such enlightened and distinguished company. Where a man can breathe free, enjoy the good things of life, and not worry about some old book taught by men without imagination. And one of the good things in life, is of course, the beauty of a woman."

"Of course, of course." Sir John says.

Your neutrino link kicks in.

*Thats not good, Alexis. He's just dissed the orthodoxy, and even the moderates in a country where the punishment for apostasy is death.* C says in your ear.

PT

I take a sip of my drink and study the men carefully.  I look at Prince Faroq with a raised brow.  "Um thank you...At least I think that was meant to be a compliment."

I take another sip as I listen to C.  Ok so these guys have the same opinion as Roarke no surprise there. 

"It was. Faroq likes to hear himself talk." Prince Abdul says as the other prince glares at him.

"It is merely that I no longer ascribe to outdated doctrines which require a woman to wear a tent, and instead I prefer other ways. More rational ways."  Faroq says.

Both princes look intelligent, have Oxford English, are arrogant, very wealthy, and you can sense that they regard you as a potential conquest, easy prey.

*If the king of Saudi Arabia hears these remarks which is likely, it seems highly unlikely that his clerics won't, and I don't even think being a prince would protect them from the wrath of the mullahs.  So either, they don't plan for the mullahs to hear their remarks which is unlikely, or they have protection from the mullahs greater than being a pair of relatively minor princes in a country infested with thousands of them.* C says. His voice sounds worried. *I would not mind finding out what makes them so sure of themselves.*

PT

I smile and try to look like the brainless beauty they most likely think I am "Well speaking as a woman I like my freedom to dress as I choose."

I take a sip of my drink and give the prince a look of awe and admiration in an attempt to stroke his male ego.  I'm sorry but I'm afraid I don't know very much about the ways of your country.  But even I know that your leaders don't take kindly to those who speak against them.  Do you not fear their punishment for such statements?  Ahh....perhaps being a prince you have more freedom to speak as you wish?"

He expands his chest, and smiles at you.

"Yes, my lovely English rose, being a prince does confer certain advantages. But soon, soon my dear..." He reaches out and strokes your cheek. "I will not have to suffer the rule of Seventh Century imbeciles any further.  A new day is dawning, and those who stand with me, will rise in the world. I am after all" Prince Faroq says.

*"I'm sure you're aware he just committed treason. And there is no way his family will accept that, unless he holds the whip hand over them. Also, be careful with Faroq. He's persona non grata in France. Seems he was found in a hotel room with a dead woman."*  C tells you.

"I have some plans for the world, and I would love to show them to you."  Faroq leans over, and whispers in your ear. "Perhaps you could come to my private quarters...."

PT

It's all I can do to keep the smile on my face. This guy was pathatic.  He's so full of himself he can't even see when he's being played.  "I would loce to hear more about you plans.  But I can't come to your private quarters.  It just isn't seemly for a lady to be in the private quarters of a man she has just met.

I take a sip of my drink as I let my gaze travel around the room.  I also haven't had a chance to speak with our host yet.  Would you happen to know where he is?"

They escort you into the gambling room, and once in there, Prince Faroq calls out in the densely packed room...

"Howard, Howard?"

The crowd parts in front of you, and you see a smiling, if sweat-stained,and loose-tied Howard Roarke standing on a giant Trivia Pursuit table inlaid into the floor.  There's another man standing on it too, but he looks almost all done in.

"This young lady wanted to meet you.  The man of the hour.  The chosen CEO for the Change Foundation in its mission to improve the planet, and save us from all sorts of bad things."  Prince Faroq says.

"You only say those nice things because they are true, Prince.  Ladies and Gentlemen, a round of applause for one of the chief financiers of the New and Improved World."

Loud applause greets Prince Faroq.  And then Howard hushes it with a raised hand.

"Ever since my father's tragic death last year, I've become aware of the speed of life. And of the need to steward it closely.  This helps me in running Roark Enterprises.  So, miss, if you want to talk to me, you'll have to do it while I, that is, we play a game.  Come out on the board."

You can see the other player looking relieved, but also shaking his head 'no' at you warning you.

PT

I let out a very female and very "brainless beauty" kind of laugh.  "Mr. Roarke I wouldn't stand a chance against you.  I'm an actress not a trivia scholor. But if you really want me to try I'll give it a shot and maybe the answers will come to me."

I nervously take a sip of my ginger ale suddenly wishing I had something a little stronger.  "This isn't going to hurt, is it?"

"Not if you're good." He says with a laugh, and then half-jerks you onto the game board.  You feel a jolt run up your spine, and your hair stands up for a second.  You feel warm, and cheerful, and the gaze of around fifty people are on the two of you.

"Basic game of SuperGenius Trivia Pursuit with a few modifications. First..."

A clear acryllic cylinder with a flat bottom and top, except for a small tube that the whole thing depends from descends from the ceiling. Inside it is two dice made of foam about five inches across. He holds out a remote so that you can see it above the cylinder, and presses a button.  Air blows into the cylinder and makes the dice bounce.

A 'four' and a 'five' come up.

"So I move nine spaces."  He walks over toward you, and stops on top of a yellow walnut floor tile about five foot square.  A holographic image of a card appears in the air, and a question is asked. He waits for people to place some bets, and then casually answers it--wrong.

A spark of electricity leaps from the ground to his fingers.

"Ouch." He says and laughs. "About as bad as when I walk across the tiger fur in my office and open the door. I'll make you a deal. You can forego a triangle for every question you want to ask me. So first win a triangle. Your go."

He motions for a servant who tosses you an insulated remote.

PT
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:10, Thu 22 Dec 2005.

Unprepared for the sudden pull forward my head snaps back as I instinctively jump forward onto the platform.  I look around already not liking the feeling of being up here.

I look over at Roarke as he speaks to me.  Seeing the small jolt he gets I have to keep from fight from sneering at him.  Somehow I know that isn't the kind of jolt I'll be getting.

I frown not understanding what he means by triangles.  I reflexively reach up to catch the remote tossed at me.  "Umm I'm sorry I don't play this game much.  What are the triangles?"


ooc:  It's been a long time since I've played Trivial Pursuit can't exactly remember how it's played

"A wedge. In my game, we use rings. You can keep any you win."  He shows you a collection of gold banded precious stones cut into pyramid shapes.  One for each color of the game.

"Get all the colors, and you win. Of course, you have to give up a wedge to ask me a question."

He points at the dice, and at your remote.

"Roll the dice. Lets get going." He says impatiently.  You hear people standing behind you begin to bet on your chances, and how soon you will fail.

And then you hear in your link...*We've got a few professors here on-tap.*

PT
OOC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivial_Pursuit is an article on the game.  Here's a better picture...http://www.trivialpursuit.com/.../boardgames_dvd.html

My eyes widen and I smile when Roarke shows me the rings.  They're beautiful.

"Ok Here goes." I take a deep breath and press the button on the remote.  I watch the dice begin to move as the air blows. As the Dice settle and I begin to move the number of paces on them I look at Roarke with a smile "You said we'd talk if I got up here. So are you gonna tell me about yourself?"

He smiles.

"Nice try.  But you only get a question by trading in a wedge ring."

A question comes.

"What is the precise circumference of the Earth?"

You answer after about twenty seconds as a message comes into your link from an unfamiliar and scholarly voice.

Another question follows it. And you tell everyone the names of the nine supreme court justices in 1860.  And then another. And you land on a wedge.

You list all the Crown Colonies of England that it still holds.

And a servant hands you a ring with a wedge-shaped saphire on it.

PT

"What!? You mean I have give you a ring to ask you anything at all? So I can either   keep my rings win the game and we have no conversation at all? Or I can lose the game by giving up my rings to ask you anything I want?  And what happens when I lose? If you give a shock for every wrong answer what kind of pain do you inflict for losing the entire game."

I practically throw the remote and the ring at him.  " Put your ego away Mr. Roarke I'm not that interested in you. "  I then head for the exit off the platform.

"All right, enough. Good gracious." He sighs. "Play my game, and I'll give you an interview afterwards. You're with the press aren't you? And you won't get damaged by the game. Its a bit of harmless fun."

He looks 'safe', but then you've met the real Howard Roark. You know he had something to do with infecting someone with Ebola.

*Not likely to be safe, but we need the data. Perhaps you can get it some other way. Your call. Alexis.* C says on the link.

PT

I turn back to stare at him a shocked look on my face.  "The press!? No I'm not with the press.  Who said anything about an interview.  I just wanted meet you and  to maybe  have a polite conversation.   You're the one turning it into a game."

I turn and continue off the platform.  "I'm tired of your little games.  You rate your importance way higher than I do.  If you'll excuse me I'm going to go get another drink and some fresh air."

You stomp off, and the crowd parts before you with a mix of shocked and respectful glances.  You find yourself at the brass railing of the boat, your arms trembling. Looking out at the water, and wondering what next.  Sir John joins you, and puts a jacket over your shoulders.

A couple comes by, and they softly give you a golf clap.

"Jolly well done. Roark is a twit, a rich twit, but still a twit."  The man murmurs as he passes with his lady.

*"What now?"* C asks.

"You wouldn't happen to have a layout of the yacht would you?" I say softly and quietly hoping C can hear me. "Maybe I can check out his office."

I walk along the rail on the pretext of looking over the yacht.  In reality I'm looking for and office or private quarters which might yeild some information.

*If you can find a private spot, open up Sir John's chest. He's got a laptop in there.  And a laser whisker receiver. Take these out, and get them as far away from the center of the boat as possible.  A laser beam will spread a little bit, and we're not sure where they have their sensors. We can download the 'official' map of the yacht to you. And a satellite photo along with IR of it.  I can already see there are discrepancies whcih interest me because thats probably where they are hiding things.*

You pass a trio of private rooms, and the walk you are on is empty right now.

PT

I try the doors to the rooms to see if they are locked.  Hopefully I can get into one of them and use it to conduct my business.

The second one clicks open, and you see a laundry storage room.  Dozens of white uniforms with an embroidered gold, purple and blue set of words over a picture of the globe fill the shelves on both sides.

"Intellect and Reason is Right." Are the words.

Sir John opens up his stomach, after unbuckling his suit jacket, and produces your laptop.  Then he 'makes himself decent'.

PT

I take my laptop from Sir John and open it up.  I ask Sir John to hold it for me so I can have my hands free to type.  So with my laptop resting in Sir Johns hands. I begin to work.

I open a link to C and his people and then wait for instructions on what to do next.

As I wait for the download of information I keep listening for any sounds of someone coming near the door.

Also I search through the uniforms and find one my size.  I'll stash it in Sir Johns chest when I put my computer back.  Then I look around the the room for anything else which may be useful at a later date.

*The laser whisker beam receiver can't penetrate through the roof, or even a piece of paper, and in fact needs to be as far from the center of the boat as possible just in case they have laser receivers themselves.  The neutrino link can penetrate through the Earth.* C reminds you.

You grumble to yourself, and climb out of the small room, after stashing one of the uniforms in your size.

Outside, you look around for a good spot. Up near the bow might do, and there's the cigarette boat tied up alongside...

PT

I quickly set up my computer up at the bow of the boat and try again to establish a link.  I look around keeping an eye out for any company while I wait for the computer and the people on the other end to do their thing.

As I look around I check for anything that looks out of place or odd. Or just anything that might be useful.

You get a link, and a quick download bar goes across your screen, and then you are looking at the 'official' blueprints of the yacht you are on.

There have been substantial modifications.

The most immediate behind you is a 'telescopic observatory--closed for upgrades' according to the sign draped over its door.  Plus the ship's hull looks wider by about ten feet down near the waterline.

Also, you'd say there is another twenty feet added on to the ship at the very end.  And there is a fourth floor bridge, whereas on the blueprints this is a three-story above the deck boat.

PT

Wishing I had a printer with me I quickly save the info on my computer so I can peek at it again later if I need to.  As I do this I try to memorize as many of the discrepancies as possible.  Then I close up my computer looking around to make sure we are still alone.  If we are still alone I have Sir John open his chest and I quickly stash my computer.

While I'm waiting for Sir John to get himself back together I look around trying to decide which way to look first.  Any stairs around?

You wait a couple minutes until nobody is around, and then hustle the laptop back inside Sir John's stomach cavity.

There's a ladder behind the observatory dome which leads up to the superstructure of the boat, and there's another pair of stairs on the right side of the boat that leads up as well, and another just beyond it that leads down into the lower levels of the yacht.

PT

I walk casually along the rail stopping to peer here and there.  When I reach the steps going up I peer up them as if I'm taking a look around the yacht.  My purpose is to make it seem to anyone watching me that I am just looking around the yacht as a guest who is interested and impressed with the glamour and beauty of the yacht.

I proceed quietly up the stairs remaining calm as a person who is just touring the  yacht would be.

I say quietly so C can hear me. "I'm going to check out the upper decks first."

You slip on up to the second deck, and see a smaller crowd, but still fairly numerous is up here as well.  Its a more laid back atmosphere with smokers, lovers, and loungers, and even a quartet playing Bridge.  You recognize one of the players, a famous investor.

You stroll about a bit, and make your way up to the third level.  No one is about except for a young fellow who looks to be lost in his beer, and is peering over the railing out to sea, and into the wind as the yacht cruises along.  Up here, its a bit more breezy.

You see another, narrower staircase leading up to the new fourth floor, and to a walkway around the center room.

PT

I wander along the railing for a bitjust to see if the fellow acknowledges me. If he doesn't pay me any attention I will gradually and casually make my way to the next stairway.

As I wander around the room I look for anything that appears odd.

He looks the sort of person who would be on the tennis court a lot, and be Best Saleman of the Year at a computer firm.  As you walk past him, he turns, and smiles at you.

"Hello there. Say, I've never been to Merrie Olde England before, do you think you could give me any tourist recommendations? Like is Big Ben actually a honey-eating bear, or is Parsifal House the best place in town to see antique parsley?"

He's laughing behind his words.

PT

I smile back at him just enough to not be rude. I don't bother to answer him as he is obviously making a joke.

"I was just taking a look around the yacht.  I've never been on board such a luxurious vessel before.  Do you know our host well?"

I try not to show my impatience.  I really wanted to see the next level.  But I need to find out how this guy is connected first. I wouldn't want someone who is in the middle of it all to suspect my snooping around.

"Oh, I've observed some of his friends from a ways off for some time, but him, not really. Actually, I'm something of a missionary, a Christian, In Action, you could say.  You sure you don't know anything about Parsifal House as a tourist site?"  He gives Sir John a puzzled glance, and then turns back to you with a bright smile.

Behind that smile, you can see his eyes trying to subtly read you.

PT

I shake my head No sorry. I don't know a thing about the place. I take you aren't from around here?"   I frown a little.  "From a distance? You don't want to know them from a bit closer?"

I indicate Sir John "This is Sir John.  He's a movie producer and I'm an actress in his newest movie."

I hold out my hand " Helen Wainwright and you are?"