Against the darkness of the night sky, you can barely make out the smoke of the fires ahead. They appear to be in the north woods, where the drifters dwell. Funny folks, those drifters, never really stay in one place for long. That's probably a reaction to how harshly they were hunted in times past. You'd better advise them to get out of the woods. After that the fire'll start heading for your domain.
A messenger approaches. "My Lord, the rear scouts report that the plague in the far village has spread to another, but it appears to be contained for the moment. It doesn't seem that it will spread to the four cities or even the new colony, but it could strike that town we don't have contact with yet, I suppose."
"Yes, We must talk to them about that someday," you reply. If they are going to be protected by Our will, and that of Our brothers, they could at least pay their share." You shake your head. At least the new city nearby will be founded with better respect for the Powers.
Thought of your brothers moves you to visit their wing. Your elder is well, as usual. Nothing seems to bother him most of the time. Even abdicating in your favor didn't seem to hurt his spirits any. Your younger seems much recovered from his recent bouts with injury. Always the strongarm, he just has to get into scrape after scrape. Still when the time comes, you've no doubt he will stand beside the other two of you and do his duty.
Continuing your survey, you are startled to discover that your watchtower has fallen. That is no good at all. The great crystal needed to be situated within the synched watchtower in order to channel for the Powers when it is resonated.
Well, you'll just have to have the great crystal moved to the silver valley instead. It was mined out to supply the watchtower years ago, but should have enough power remaining to synch. It seems too early, but perhaps you wish to synch the bowl of the silver valley now?
And, in either case, you'll need to move the great crystal to the valley before the time arrives. There is still time remaining, but perhaps you want to resonate the great crystal now?
Jayla's vision stops and she gets to decide whether to synch the bowl of the silver valley, or resonate the great crystal. She decides no.Once the resonated great crystal is in the synched valley with you and your brothers, the flames will spill around your domain, harmless.
But that time is not yet here. There is leisure for a bit more rest before the fires arrive, so you choose to avail yourself of the opportunity. "See to it We're not disturbed." Heading into your meditation chamber, you clear your mind, and concentrate on only the sand between your toes. The sand of this very beach.
You fumble through the darkness for that breaker. Ah, there is is. <flip>
The main lab lights come on all is ready. Your assistants dart back and forth making the final preparations for your latest masterwork, the Flux Capacitor! As they finish the various pieces and check the status of the power sources, you prepare to make the final connections yourself.
Three wires will be needed to drive the Flux Capacitor from the disparate devices that will power it and generate the Megawave. You pull a blue one from your pocket. You've been saving your lucky wire for a special occasion and now it's finally time. Connecting it to the Fortuitous Froboxinator, you prepare its connection to the chassis for the Flux Capacitor.
Next is the red wire. It's been sitting in a dusty old box for a while, so you need to strip all of its insulation off, but it should do the job nicely. Maintaining the connection between the Master Computer and the Flux Capacitor shouldn't be difficult for the sturdy little wire. You wonder if the techs remembered to buy a new CPU for the Master Computer...
Finally, the green wire. That one was a bit of a problem. One of your less reliable assistants lost it for a while, and by the time you found it, there was a small crack in the casing. You've managed to repair it with some of the brown electrical tape you found, and think it will probably hold. It'll certainly get tested enough before you need to connect it to the Reactor Core, but with the tape, it should be able to power the Flux Capacitor up to spec.
Well, the parts laid out, you do one final recheck of your calculations, before assembly. The Megawave, once generated correctly, should be able to cover the building, though some of the outbuildings of the complex might get missed. The competing lab across the road is certainly not going to be covered, but their so-called Supreme System Salve should take care of things, assuming they can get it up and running. You'd feel sorry for their troubles if one of their lab assistants hadn't been caught in that vandalism of your supply room. But really, their success or failure just isn't your problem.
The sound of a commotion distracts you from your thoughts as you look up and find your lab assistants running around in a frenzy. All four of them seem to be upset about something. Even the child you were planning to train to the work later was somewhat agitated. You notice someone else, dressed as an assistant off in the corner and are about to ask him who he is, when suddenly you realize what is wrong. They've cracked the chassis for the Flux Capacitor! It's useless. There was a sort of inverted chasis around here somewhere for use in an emergency. You'll have to engage that chasis instead of the main one. Damned annoying, but the AgBowl should be an acceptable chassis replacement.
Finally, you need to install the capacitor itself. It's currently inactive, but there's plenty of time to move it to the AgBowl backup chassis and activate it before you make the three final connections.
Suddenly, the lights go out, and you realize that damned assistant has blown the circuit breaker again. You hear a spill over in the acid pools and think it odd that it's getting louder and louder, almost wave like, as the lights come on again and you look about the beach.
"Battlestations!" Damn first officer! Always getting into a fight while you're taking a nap. You wouldn't have put him in charge, but it's probably too early to wake the captain up. You jump up and head down to engineering. In the bay, you find the status lights for the three primary systems blinking up a storm. Yup, they've been banged up a bit over the years since you installed them, but they haven't let you down yet. Of course, you've never really gotten the chance to try the whole set up out for real.
Going over the diagnostics you find the most serious problems are with the Main Drive. A few deft touches with your wrench and some spare parts and things are up and running as expected. It may not be pretty, but it'll hold. The Computer Core and the McGuffin seem up to the task as well.
All you've really got to do is keep things running until after the major battle and maybe then you can get some rest. The XO calls down that this isn't it though. That last call of "Battlestations" was just in response to an attack on a planet outside your defense perimeter. They got blasted pretty heavily in the last war, so you didn't really expect them to slow the enemy down any. The main enemy force is definitely coming though, so you'll have to be ready to throw things into overdrive when they get here. All four of the worlds, (or is it five? You're never sure...), and the new colony will be depending on your ship.
You head up to the bridge and make your report before going off duty. What's this! Something has happened to the captain's chair! Instead of the imposing figure it once cut, it's now a pile of silver rubble. Well, you'll just have to hack something else together. Perhaps a salad bowl? Hmmm... Well, whatever you do, you'd better do it before the bigshots wake the captain up. But there seems to be a little more time left, so you head down to your room for a break.
Heading back up to your room, you settle down to a nice bath. You settle down into the bath and close your eyes as the water washes over you in nice regular waves. The sand is scratching your ears though, so you sit up on the beach.
Enemy: Struck down hard the last time, but inevitably it appears to be ready to try again.
The Three:
Spire/Light/etc.:
The lights finally come up and there they sit before you. Tall and proud, they represent the best of your superiors, greatest of the Phoenix Scouts. As you fidget nervously in your chair, hoping your charts and viewgraphs are still in order, your scoutmaster calls for silence, and the Board of Review commences.
"Mr. Powell, the board is ready to hear about the status of your plans of defense in the coming war."
Nervous, but determined, you stand and begin the briefing. "Yes sir. Basically, I've outlined a three pronged attack. My largest force will be kept in reserve waiting of the chance of any fortuitous opening on part of the enemy. I'll have my command ship with the more experienced of the other two fleets, and run the battle from there. The third fleet shall provide the main strike, and constitute the power behind our attack."
A question from another of the board interrupts: "Mr. Powell, we understood the third fleet has some leadership issues."
Yes, that was looking to be a problem, but luckily, you've dealt with the issue already. Hopefully, the scout you put in place will hold on. "Completely taken care of sir. After purging some of the officers, the current commander, though still green, should be up to the challenge, provided there are no further difficulties."
"I hope you are right, Mr. Powell. When do you plan to commence the attack?"
"We've got some reports from the far field that the enemy is moving even now, though I feel it would be premature to begin the operation at this time. We should wait for the enemy to close, and be certain that our strength is not wasted prematurely. I'm taking this opportunity to run some more training exercises."
"Do you envision any casualties among the people?"
You were hoping to avoid discussion of this issue at the current time, but perhaps it's best dealt with head on. "Yes sir. As you know, the Girl Scouts are not our responsibility, and though they've been harassing our people to some extent, their have to rely on their own patches. Among our own people, however, in addition to the usual, there are several scouts working on their Resource Development merit badges albeit much more slowly than they used to, as well as a fiesty group still working on their Observation badges. There's even a group working on some Advanced Medicine badge back among the younger troops, though no one has really noticed them yet. The real problem, though, is the new petitioning troop that appears to be working on some sort of Distributed Communication merit badge. Their troop has already taken some casualties and are likely to take more. Indeed they took vast damage the last time the enemy attacked so are familiar with their ways. Unless we can get a sizable portion of them here into the Jamboree, the fleets won't be well equipped to defend them. Finally, there's a young man from the neighborhood petitioning to become a new Scout. He's passed all the initial tests, but isn't quite ready for a book yet. As long as he stays inside though, he should be fine."
"Where do you plan to stage the final operation."
Damn. They're sharp. Well, there's no sense dragging this out. "That is our largest problem. The main site was almost completely destroyed by the training accident in the preparation phases. I've a backup site in mind, but will have to move the starprobe there instead of to the primary before activating it. The backup site isn't attuned yet, but the starprobe isn't there, so it's probably too early to deal with that now anyways."
A moment passes in silence as the sweat passed across your brow. Suddenly, your scoutmaster sits back as if satisfied with your answers.
"Well, Mr. Powell, it appears you've covered most of the relevant topics. The board will now pause to consider if you shall proceed." At this, the light go off. You hear the continued murmuring of the various board members as they debate your plan, but it's difficult to make out their actual conversation. It's more a regular murmur than real words, and as you sit in the darkness listening to the rise and swell of it, you find it's more like an ocean wave than a conversation. Very similar to the waves landing on this very beach...
There is a light glinting off the shield of your scout as he returns from surveying the field.
"Guardian! I've returned from the third legion. They say their strength is sufficient. They've recruited a number of the more hearty villagers to buttress their ranks."
"I hope you are right," you respond, "They're as critical as the others to the strategy. The Farseers are depending upon them."
You mull over the plan as you head back to the palace -- the three legions working in concert should be able to keep the horde from advancing. In the central keep you see the four Farseers, a bit weakened from their recent injuries, but recovering nicely. Their cousins from the outlying district is introducing them to another Farseer you have not yet met, though you'd heard of him recently. All bow politely you as you pass. Even the infant Farseer, barely out of the cradle looks to you with hope, knowing that your plan is all that stands between them and the hordes.
Suddenly, there is a call at the door. "Guardian! The horde has attacked!"
You look around in fear, but yes, all of the Farseers seem to be accounted for. "Who was attacked? The Farseers are all here."
"I'm uncertain. She looked like a Farseer, but like one I've never encountered before. In the outer marches. Her countenance was as that of a ghost, but the horde was nipping at her clothing, tearing bits off as I fled to give warning. She was screaming, 'No, not again!' "
You shake your head sadly... "If she doesn't make it into the city, the legions will be of no use to her." But still, if something can be done, you should find it. No Farseer should have to face the horde. Getting a few details from the scout you conclude the horde was still far enough away that it is still too early to ignite the great torch. That is well though as the silver torch holder is lost. Currently, it's only being held in some sort of silver bowl. It will probably due as a backup, but the loss of the original holder is hard to ignore as a portent.
As these melancholy thoughts intrude on your plans you begin to hear the rain beginning outside. The sound of the waters lull you to rest a bit, for the battle is coming. You close your eyes, and open them at the sound of wave on the beach.
You think the project will impress the judges. You've worked with Professor Frinkle before, and he's always been reasonable. You've heard that Professor DeWitt is a curmudgeon, but you're confident that he'll perceive the excellence of the overall design. Professor Blyssop has been retired for as long as you've been in the field, so he might not be up on the most recent advances, but there's still no sharper engineer. Some of the others, though - who is this Dr. Pordullig, anyway? You can't imagine he has the appropriate credentials, or you would have heard of him. And the grad student - that seems unfair, giving him a vote as well.
You're also a little unclear on the outside examiners. Professor Tove, from Crosstown University, is likely to just be a spoiler - they hardly even teach engineering there, and who knows what mad ideas he has. Professor Pinyindek's taught a few classes here, but he's still a Commuter College man at heart, and that's already caused him grief.
You'll want to wait to put the finishing touches on your design until closer to the contest. Not to mention, you'll have to find a replacement for the silver microspire that the janitor broke. You should be able to whip up something with a microspherical crypt, as long as it has the inverse resonant properties of the microspire. Once the starrilium crystal is powered up and installed, it should work, though, alas, without quite the same efficiency as the microspire.
X = .397;
Y = .285 + .122i;
Z = .381;
checksum i, valid
checksum j, valid
checksum k, valid
checksum l, minimal
checksum m, ERR private variable
checksum n, ERR incomplete data
sub synch {
do
BUFFER OVERRUN ABORTING INPUT
Your best data says the volcanoes haven't started in this area yet, though they've taken out a few ruins farther out along the islands. Pity you hadn't had a chance to take a look there, but it was a long way to travel. Still, this site has a lot of the things you care about. There's the town hall, always good for a lot of random bureacratic data, and with some new construction nearby. The technical academy looks like it wasn't in operation when the settlement was abandoned, but it's still worth investigating. Then there's the radar station; the defenses there will probably be a bit stronger than the others, but you have confidence you'll be able to defuse any traps. There's a smaller building you don't recognize, that seems to have a central keep and an enclosed yard - unusual construction, not what you're used to. You make a note to try and find an entrance to the subway tunnels - those should head out quite a ways, maybe even to the volcanic area.
You would have liked to be able to put the ultrasonic crystal in the resonating spire - that would have let you clear things away easily. As it is, your darned grad students broke the spire, and you'll have to put it in the silver searchlight focus instead. It won't be as high-precision, but it'll be better than nothing.
The teas you've been brewing are steeped and potent. Cornflower, rose hips, and astringent green tea, each with their own herbal alchemy and long history. The green tea isn't as fresh as you'd like, but you bolstered it a bit with some powdered oolong. There should be time for the full course of teas before you have to start the surgery.
You begin to ready your equipment, as well. The crystal knife isn't sterile yet, but when you go to place it in the silver sterilization sheath, you realize that the sheath has been bent out of recognition! Ruined! You'll have to use the larger bowl sterilizer, how inconvenient.
You're happy to note that as far as your diagnosis is concerned, there should be very little loss of function for the patient. The three big systems, circulatory, nervous, and skeleto-muscular, should all recover with no damage. Reproductive capability shouldn't be altered, though the patient is young and shouldn't need to worry about that yet. You're never really sure how to feel about the implanted symbiotes, though - they're not much of a drain on her system, but you do feel as if they should be pulling more of the weight than they are. On the other hand, if you use any transplant organs from the earlier cases, then perhaps it'll balance out.
The passengers should be all right - there's the Smiths, of course. The Greens won't come out of their stateroom, but no matter, and the Browns don't get along with anyone else, which is annoying. Someone brought a kid, too, though as long as he stays off the bridge, no problem. You still need to do a final lockdown of the Jeffries tubes - you think there might be a stowaway or two.
Soon enough you'll have to power up the hyperplasma bottle to power the shield generators - you hope it's up to it. And you're not pleased that the darned techies broke the ship's silver nose spire; you'll have to make do with the parabolic nose cone instead. That's never been attuned, but if it doesn't work, you won't be alive long enough to notice.
All three of your hands are moving quickly, keeping the balls spinning and bouncing - there's still a twinge in the bones of your strong hand, but it's healed and won't fail you. You were only expecting the classic fountain toss, but someone seems to have introduced some extra balls. The small one isn't a problem, but the one that keeps speeding through and knocking yours about is really getting irritating. And where the heck did the black and white ones come from?
The endgame will be a lot harder than you were planning for, as well - someone seems to have smashed the silver ballspoke, and the backup receptacle isn't even ready yet. Someone had better turn on the receptacle and prime it with the throwing star, before it's too late.
The boundary condition is in deep fluctuation; you don't have a firm handle on when it'll impinge on your position. You've got a little time, at least. You'll have to harden your sensor suite before then, though, or the whole thing will be wiped. You've ordered some Rainbow-class system hardeners, and they should be up and running in time. You're a little worried about the power supply, but the techies say it'll be fine.
The main thing that's bothering you is that the sensor tower is down. The techies say it's unrecoverable, so you'll have to go to the backup parabolic grid, but it's just not the same. And nobody's de-installed the power crystal to move to the backup grid, either. Someone had really better get moving on some of this, because you don't look forward to having to reinstall the entire thing after a boundary wipe.
She had a caper she wanted your help with. Well, not just your help - she also wanted the help of your trusty blaster (been with you a long time, and still shoots as straight as the day you replaced the energy matrix), your B&E kit (never know when you're going to need to do some fine work), and, most importantly, the sort of luck that money just can't buy. She said she'd leave the details of the planning to you, and that was good, because if there's one thing that dames do to a plan, it's to pour the gin into the peanut butter, and then you can never get it clean again.
She had a laundry list that she wanted you to pick up for her, but this was the sort of laundry that you don't buy off the rack. Ruby bracelet, diamond necklace, matching pearl earrings - all of those should fit in a pocket no problem. Onyx cufflinks - you have no idea why she wanted menswear or where you'd find them, but when a dame asks nicely, what can you say? Gold nugget? Her tastes grow ever more changeable, but you're sure you'd find one around here or there. Then, a set of opals - there's a friend you can grab some from, if the cops haven't twigged him already.
Then she said she wanted you to pick up some carefree, and the two of you could have a little party. You didn't have a line on that, so she was on her own there.
The rest of it was all pretty simple. A nice silver jewelry box to keep her diamonds in - they weren't hot yet, but they would be. A shame she couldn't wear them in a tiara, the way diamonds were meant to be shown, but that sort of high-glitz style crashed and burned a long time back.
Eva seems to be taking charge, which is good, since nobody else will, and *someone* has to deal with organizing the final defenses. Grimblemaury's still sulking, and hasn't said a word in hours - someone will have to deal with that eventually, but it's not your problem. And Moment Before Dawn won't stop arguing with Eva about some slight or another, it's enough to make you stun both of them into insensibility. Well, except that it's not really permitted for bodyguards to do that sort of thing. At least First Frost of Autumn isn't causing any trouble, though he's not being particularly helpful either. You're not sure how Sook and Ruehan ended up in the party, but since they're here, they're in your charge. Sook seems to have been pretty badly beaten up before; you're not going to let that happen again. And then there's Jim, who won't come into the clearing at all. He says he doesn't need Elite protection, he's got Boy Scout protection, and the attackers won't see him if he climbs a tree. Well, that's all well and good, but if he chucks another rock at Eva, you're going to go chop down his tree with your plasma brand and see how he likes that.
You start pegging out the perimeter defenses and alarms. Wires hooked to poles hooked to the generator. Good in principal, and everything looks solid, but the generator just hasn't been the same since the techies converted it to wood-fired. Well, either it will hold or it will not, and there's no longer anything you can do to help. You'll move on towards the valley in the morning - for now, all you can do is wait out the night.
The lights finally come up and there they sit before you. Tall and proud, they represent the best of your superiors, greatest of the Phoenix Scouts. As you fidget nervously in your chair, hoping your charts and viewgraphs are still in order, you scoutmaster calls for silence, and the Board of Review commences.
"Mr. Powell, the board is ready to hear about the status of your plans of defense in the coming war."
Nervous, but determined, you stand and begin the briefing. "Yes sir. Basically, I've outlined a four pronged attack. My largest force will be kept in reserve waiting of the chance of any fortuitous opening on part of the enemy. I'll have my command ship with the more experienced of the other two fleets, and run the battle from there. The third fleet shall provide the main strike, and constitute the power behind our attack."
A question from another of the board interrupts: "Mr. Powell, we understood the third fleet has some leadership issues."
Yes, that was looking to be a problem, but luckily, you've dealt with the issue already. Hopefully, the scout you put in place will hold on. "Completely taken care of sir. After purging some of the officers, the current commander, though still green, should be up to the challenge, provided there are no further difficulties."
"I hope you are right, Mr. Powell. And what will the fourth fleet be
doing?" another board member queries.
You're not really sure about the answer to that one; the fourth fleet
was a recent addition to the plan, and it has neither armament nor
fuel. They may have to stay on the landing pad, or be scrapped.
"Very well. That sounds somewhat ill thought out, but it is your
plan.
"We've got some reports from the far field that the enemy is moving even now, though I feel it would be premature to begin the operation at this time. We should wait for the enemy to close, and be certain that our strength is not wasted prematurely. I'm taking this opportunity to run some more training exercises."
"Do you envision any casualties among the people?"
You were hoping to avoid discussion of this issue at the current time, but perhaps it's best dealt with head on. "Yes sir. As you know, the Girl Scouts are not our responsibility, and though they've been harassing our people to some extent, their have to rely on their own patches. Among our own people, however, in addition to the usual, there are several scouts working on their Resource Development merit badges albeit much more slowly than they used to, as well as a fiesty group still working on their Observation badges. There's even a group working on some Advanced Medicine badge back among the younger troops, though no one has really noticed them yet. The real problem, though, is the new petitioning troop that appears to be working on some sort of Distributed Communication merit badge. Their troop has already taken some casualties and are likely to take more. Indeed they took vast damage the last time the enemy attacked so are familiar with their ways. Unless we can get a sizable portion of them here into the Jamboree, the fleets won't be well equipped to defend them. Finally, there's a young man from the neighborhood petitioning to become a new Scout. He's passed all the initial tests, but isn't quite ready for a book yet. As long as he stays inside though, he should be fine."
"Where do you plan to stage the final operation."
Damn. They're sharp. Well, there's no sense dragging this out. "That is our largest problem. The main site was almost completely destroyed by the training accident in the preparation phases. I've a backup site in mind, but will have to move the starprobe there instead of to the primary before activating it. The backup site isn't attuned at present, but the starprobe isn't there, so it's probably too early to deal with that now anyways."
A moment passes in silence as the sweat passed across your brow. Suddenly, your scoutmaster sits back as if satisfied with your answers.
"Well, Mr. Powell, it appears you've covered most of the relevant topics. The board will now pause to consider if you shall proceed." At this, the light go off. You hear the continued murmuring of the various board members as they debate your plan, but it's difficult to make out their actual conversation. It's more a regular murmur than real words, and as you sit in the darkness listening to the rise and swell of it, you find it's more like an ocean wave than a conversation. Very similar to the waves landing on this very beach...
Against the darkness of the night sky, you can barely make out the smoke of the fires ahead. They appear to be in the north woods, where the drifters dwell. Funny folks, those drifters, never really stay in one place for long. That's probably a reaction to how harshly they were hunted in times past. You'd better advise them to get out of the woods. After that the fire'll start heading for your domain.
A messenger approaches. "My Lord, the rear scouts report that the plague in the far village has spread to another, but it appears to be contained for the moment. It doesn't seem that it will spread to the four cities or even the new colony, but it could strike that town we don't have contact with yet, I suppose."
"Yes, We must talk to them about that someday," you reply. If they are going to be protected by Our will, and that of Our brothers, they could at least pay their share." You shake your head. At least the new city nearby will be founded with better respect for the Powers.
Thought of your brothers moves you to visit their wing. Your elder is well, as usual. Nothing seems to bother him most of the time. Even abdicating in your favor didn't seem to hurt his spirits any. Your younger seems much recovered from his recent bouts with injury. Always the strongarm, he just has to get into scrape after scrape. Still when the time comes, you've no doubt he will stand beside the other two of you and do his duty. Finally, there is the youngest. You're never sure what he's up to, and he clearly isn't able to pull any weight. Still, he's family and you can't leave him out of the calculation.
Continuing your survey, you are startled to discover that your watchtower has fallen. That is no good at all. The great crystal needed to be situated within the synched watchtower in order to channel for the Powers when it is resonated.
Well, you'll just have to have the great crystal moved to the silver valley instead. It was mined out to supply the watchtower years ago, but should have enough power remaining to synch. It seems too early, but perhaps you wish to synch the bowl of the silver valley now?
And, in either case, you'll need to move the great crystal to the valley before the time arrives. There is still time remaining, but perhaps you want to resonate the great crystal now?
Once the resonated great crystal is in the synched valley with you and your brothers, the flames will spill around your domain, harmless.
But that time is not yet here. There is leisure for a bit more rest before the fires arrive, so you choose to avail yourself of the opportunity. "See to it We're not disturbed." Heading into your meditation chamber, you clear your mind, and concentrate on only the sand between your toes. The sand of this very beach.
The boundary condition is in deep fluctuation; you don't have a firm handle on when it'll impinge on your position. You've got a little time, at least. You'll have to harden your sensor suite before then, though, or the whole thing will be wiped. You've ordered some Rainbow-class system hardeners, and they should be up and running in time. You're a little worried about the power supply, but the techies say it'll be fine. And there's the dongle hanging off the card - you can't tell what it plugs into, and leaving an ungrounded dongle is just trouble.
The main thing that's bothering you is that the sensor tower is down. The techies say it's unrecoverable, so you'll have to go to the backup parabolic grid, but it's just not the same. And nobody's re-installed the power crystal in the backup grid, either. The backup grid's been tested, but not under any sort of stress. Someone had really better get moving on some of this, because you don't look forward to having to reinstall the entire thing after a boundary wipe.
She had a caper she wanted your help with. Well, not just your help - she also wanted the help of your trusty blaster (been with you a long time, and still shoots as straight as the day you replaced the energy matrix), your B&E kit (never know when you're going to need to do some fine work), and, most importantly, the sort of luck that money just can't buy. And while she might not have wanted the help of your hip flask, she was getting it just the same. She said she'd leave the details of the planning to you, and that was good, because if there's one thing that dames do to a plan, it's to pour the gin into the peanut butter, and then you can never get it clean again.
She had a laundry list that she wanted you to pick up for her, but this was the sort of laundry that you don't buy off the rack. Ruby bracelet, diamond necklace, matching pearl earrings - all of those should fit in a pocket no problem. Onyx cufflinks - you have no idea why she wanted menswear or where you'd find them, but when a dame asks nicely, what can you say? Gold nugget? Her tastes grow ever more changeable, but you're sure you'd find one around here or there. Then, a set of opals - there's a friend you can grab some from, if the cops haven't twigged him already.
Then she said she wanted you to pick up some carefree, and the two of you could have a little party. You drew the line at that. A pretty here and there, sure, but you don't do the hard stuff, and you don't find it for people who do. She was on her own there.
The rest of it was all pretty simple. A nice silver jewelry box to keep her diamonds in - they weren't hot yet, but they would be. A shame she couldn't wear them in a tiara, the way diamonds were meant to be shown, but that sort of high-glitz style crashed and burned a long time back.
The passengers, as always, want to know when the transition will be through, and you tell them it'll be over when it's over. Mirris keeps to herself in Hydroponics, selling the herbs to whoever will pay, and Mirris hasn't gotten in a fistfight with Mirris for a whole hour or two (smalll favors!). Mirris won't even get out of bed, not surprising, and Mirris is down in the docking bay, where you quite *clearly* told people not to be. Mirris took off in a shuttle a while back - you just can't spend the time worrying about her, either she'll make transition or she won't. And Mirris seems to have stowed away - you don't blame her, she was traumatized enough the last time her ship went through.
Transition of the gravitic anomalies won't be pleasant, and you're still worrying about the ship's helmsmen. Mirris had to replace the old pilot, Mirris, who died years ago, and she's only gone through test jumps, never for real. And Mirris hasn't yet been synergized, which really needs to get done before the transition.
You've got a decent running score so far - your hotels on Pacific through Pennsylvania are doing well, you've managed to answer all of the questions so far and finished the most recent dare intact, and you've accrued about 400 million points overall. You've also picked up a free game credit, though it won't be much good until later. You probably can't win the Junta, though that's tracked separately; For the bonus rounds: Sauron is working his way up the path, but no one ever loses that game since everyone works together, and the Masquerade is still quiet.
You wish you still had your old silver Patrol gun, though - the new
silver mitt isn't the same, though everyone assures you it's the same
mechanic. And you'll need to put the mitt on before you can start.
Simon is running and ready to start whenever it's your turn.
First Frost of Autumn
Status Report:
Major Anomaly in progress. Reconfiguration for four primary nodes
necessary. Templated procedure base is disrupted; alternatives
require further development. [ Complicated psi ritual details follow
]
Status of primary bloodline nodes: good.
Strength bloodline node (location currently highly anomalous) is no longer disjoint, having reconnected with the original source. Physical integrity of Strength bloodline node in wild fluctuation. This is of concern, as no backup bloodline nodes currently exist for Strength.
Precision bloodline (location Vircus) nominal; power is slightly below originally projected levels but acceptable to proceed.
Fortune bloodline (location Quintessence: Eremov V) above originally projected levels. Resulting mental instabilities within acceptable tolerances. Numerous backup nodes exist but will not yet be capable of performing the final procedure in event of a failure.
Perception non-bloodline node: power minimal. Principally a source of flux or disruption, though this could be harnessed. If node is not eliminated, massive restructure of primary procedure will be required.
Sentiences within detected radius: Human (covered by base procedure), Tinoori (covered by base procedure), Brochoah (covered by base procedure), Hive (covered by base procedure), Vertaki (negligible population within basic coverage radius), Decider (no population within basic coverage radius), Isinglass (emerging population covered by base procedure), Whale (negligible population covered by base procedure).
Status of Procedural Elements:
Spire on Ridena destroyed.
Backup quarry facility on Gateway must be employed.
Activate quarry? [ y/n ]
Psionic resonance crystal intact. Current location: here.
Activate crystal? [ y/n ]