Traveller: Incident Zero

Nimroth

Nathan looks up from his datapad and presents his warmest smile while shaking Dr. Spachens hand.

"Dr. Spachens. The pleasure is all mine. I'm grateful you can accomodate me on such short notice."

Conscious of the classified nature of the received report, he keeps the conversational topic easy. The progress of terraforming, the rare study conditons and general life of a scientist in a mining colony.

Fourier

Evade wrote: »

OOC: How does money work is it a physical currency or do I have some kind of debit card?

OOC: A debit card essentially, though of finite use and then discarded is the most common type. So you'll have a card that contains 10,000 Cr for example.

Evade

OOC: Do I have any on hand?

Fourier

Evade wrote: »

OOC: Do I have any on hand?

OOC: Yes, in essence your pension is available to you as a collection of cards like this. Cards come in powers of 10 typically. You just have as many as you decided to bring.

Cash can't really be stolen or counterfitted as it is encrypted with your personal information.

Essentially it's a form of cryptocurrency, though carried on physical cards, rather than held in some account. For reasons I won't go into here, humanity is a bit wary of having things be completely virtual in Traveller.

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

Conscious of the classified nature of the received report, he keeps the conversational topic easy. The progress of terraforming, the rare study conditons and general life of a scientist in a mining colony.

As they exit the tram Dr. Spachens seems to be coming to pretty high option of Nathan, made obvious by many compliments regarding his widespread knowledge.

"Follow me to the geophysical labs Dr. Cole, we have something to show you."

Evade

Kei hops on the train to the canyons.

Fourier

OOC: Holding thread there.

Nimroth

Fourier wrote: »

As they exit the tram Dr. Spachens seems to be coming to pretty high option of Nathan, made obvious by many compliments regarding his widespread knowledge.

"Follow me to the geophysical labs Dr. Cole, we have something to show you."

"Lead the way Doctor." he says with a slight flourish of his hand into the expected direction.

Nebelwerfer

Fourier wrote: »

Mufasta'r arrives in the Telaran district. A grimy looking place, though well lit at least.

The place is mostly inhabited by cybernetically augmented humans, many live in bare hovels with nothing more than a socket, sitting lotus position charging themselves.

Golpspirot has decided to tag along.

Mufasta'r looks for an establishment which may provide sustenance, refreshments or otherwise. In the hopes to quench his thirst and hunger, but also to gain some insight into other establishments which may offer more exotic gear.

"Glad you joined... Golpspirot..." he says, as they travel through the district.

"Lets find some food... something to drink... and directions..."

"Golpspirot... Curious name... Whats its origin?"

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

"Lead the way Doctor." he says with a slight flourish of his hand into the expected direction.

Dr. Spachens guides Nathan through a sequence of less important labs and analysis chambers.

"No doubt you read the reports of those brought in for a sort of debilitating headache. Initially it was just the usual two aspirins job for most of them. However, after two weeks, the symptoms hadn't passed, so we brought them here and well..."

He swipes a keycard on a final door.

"...the tank over there contains the most advanced patient. We haven't opened it for a while. We had to place him in a very advanced stasis field, cryogenics wasn't slowing the infection, well it's not an infection really, look here."

He gestures to desk with a medical report open.

Fourier

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

Mufasta'r looks for an establishment which may provide sustenance, refreshments or otherwise. In the hopes to quench his thirst and hunger, but also to gain some insight into other establishments which may offer more exotic gear.

"Glad you joined... Golpspirot..." he says, as they travel through the district.

"Lets find some food... something to drink... and directions..."

"Golpspirot... Curious name... Whats its origin?"

"I'm from a rare subbranch of humanity, we developed on a very toxic jungle world. Not many of us purebloods left, ever since contact with the rest of the human race...

Say there's a bar, 'Down and Out'...charming" she says with a smirk on her face.

Fourier

Evade wrote: »

Kei hops on the train to the canyons.

He arrives out in the valleys far to the south. A smallish crowd of a hundred or so is busy waiting for the next race. A bit of a delay as one of the drivers was taken in with a severe migraine.

Nimroth

Fourier wrote: »

Dr. Spachens guides Nathan through a sequence of less important labs and analysis chambers.

"No doubt you read the reports of those brought in for a sort of debilitating headache. Initially it was just the usual two aspirins job for most of them. However, after two weeks, the symptoms hadn't passed, so we brought them here and well..."

He swipes a keycard on a final door.

"...the tank over there contains the most advanced patient. We haven't opened it for a while. We had to place him in a very advanced stasis field, cryogenics wasn't slowing the infection, well it's not an infection really, look here."

He gestures to desk with a medical report open.

Nathan's neck hair stands up as he looks at the tank. In all his years as a doctor he had never heard of a patient requiring such extensive precautions.

When he looks back at Dr. Spachens his face is a mix of concern and curiosity.
He steps to the desk and starts to read.

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

Nathan's neck hair stands up as he looks at the tank. In all his years as a doctor he had never heard of a patient requiring such extensive precautions.

When he looks back at Dr. Spachens his face is a mix of concern and curiosity.
He steps to the desk and starts to read.

The file is as harrowing as the layout of the room suggests.

The patient, Juxol Starys, an immigrant from another ancient Terran colony, initially displayed the same symptoms as the other patients, severe migraine. As the symptoms got worse, he developed a craving for toothpaste, eventually caught squeezing packets of the stuff into his mouth at a store.

He was brought here for analysis, the expectation being an addiction to some drug he could no longer access. Instead, early blood tests found an anomaly in his genetic structure, a genome sequence had been inserted on two of his chromosomes. In tandem the new sequences altered his neurochemistry so that his body began to build a new organ at the base of his skull. The organ seemed to require significant quantities of fluoride, hence the cravings. In general it was only somewhat compatible with the rest of human biology.

Projections estimated the organ would fatally damage his brain within two hours. Unfortunately its growth was uninhibited by the cryochamber, hence the immediate need for the stasis field.

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Lena follows the directions, finds a stool and orders the closest thing they have to methylated spirits and a beer.

The bar serves very poor quality beer and obviously weak stuff, not a single person in here is even tipsy.

"You here to work on the mines" the bartender inquires.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

The bar serves very poor quality beer and obviously weak stuff, not a single person in here is even tipsy.

"You here to work on the mines" the bartender inquires.

"I'm here to work on a hangover."
(Sip)
"Jesus, it's going to be more work than I thought. I didn't see any horses on approach, have you gone the extra mile and synthesised horsepiss?"

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

"I'm here to work on a hangover."
(Sip)
"Jesus, it's going to be more work than I thought. I didn't see any horses on approach, have you gone the extra mile and synthesised horsepiss?"

"Ha! Well I can tell you're from a world with real alcohol. We can't afford to make the real stuff. Most of the people here are from old colonial stock, the ancient Terran sleeper ships, their cultures didn't really have alcohol, so it ain't much of a market here."

He takes out a bottle of Solomani whiskey and pours himself and Lena a glass, before dropping two aspirins in his own.

"Enjoy, glad to share it with somebody who might appreciate it"

Nimroth

Fourier wrote: »

The file is as harrowing as the layout of the room suggests.

The patient, Juxol Starys, an immigrant from another ancient Terran colony, initially displayed the same symptoms as the other patients, severe migraine. As the symptoms got worse, he developed a craving for toothpaste, eventually caught squeezing packets of the stuff into his mouth at a store.

He was brought here for analysis, the expectation being an addiction to some drug he could no longer access. Instead, early blood tests found an anomaly in his genetic structure, a genome sequence had been inserted on two of his chromosomes. In tandem the new sequences altered his neurochemistry so that his body began to build a new organ at the base of his skull. The organ seemed to require significant quantities of fluoride, hence the cravings. In general it was only somewhat compatible with the rest of human biology.

Projections estimated the organ would fatally damage his brain within two hours. Unfortunately its growth was uninhibited by the cryochamber, hence the immediate need for the stasis field.

"This is really interesting." he mutters, swept away by his fascination. "What do you think is the purpose of this new organ? I've never seen something grow in a cryochamber."

He re-reads the report. Fluoride..."There was a mention of fluoride layers in the rock formations outside the colony. Could this be related?"

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

He takes out a bottle of Solomani whiskey and pours himself and Lena a glass, before dropping two aspirins in his own.

"Enjoy, glad to share it with somebody who might appreciate it"

"You sir are a gentleman."
She toasts
"May you be happy evermore, and may your johnson touch the floor, may freedoms spring forever pour, and God bless the ****ing Corp!"
She knocks it back, tapping the glass on the bartop a few times, grinning.
"Now *that* is a shot. Thank you kindly. So, I have 13 hrs and change to kill. What is there to do round here?"

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

"This is really interesting." he mutters, swept away by his fascination. "What do you think is the purpose of this new organ? I've never seen something grow in a cryochamber."

He re-reads the report. Fluoride..."There was a mention of fluoride layers in the rock formations outside the colony. Could this be related?"

"The flouride reactions aren't inhibited by cold temperatures, that's how it continues to grow, though even then the speed is worrying.

As for the purpose, I don't know. Initially we suspected psionic capability, but scans with equipment imported from Zhodani space reveal no heightened ability. In fact in one patient, the new organ has affected psychic functioning.

I think there is a definite connection to the flouride tunnels..."

He swipes the screen bringing up a flouride polymer molecule on screen.

"...92% of the flouride compounds found in the tunnels have also been found in the subject's neural tissue."

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

"You sir are a gentleman."
She toasts
"May you be happy evermore, and may your johnson touch the floor, may freedoms spring forever pour, and God bless the ****ing Corp!"
She knocks it back, tapping the glass on the bartop a few times, grinning.
"Now *that* is a shot. Thank you kindly. So, I have 13 hrs and change to kill. What is there to do round here?"

"The races, Zero-G action center, tours of the mines, the last one is a bit boring at first, but some of the sights are pretty..." he stops holding his hand to his temple "...sorry, this headache is killing me."

Nimroth

Fourier wrote: »

"The flouride reactions aren't inhibited by cold temperatures, that's how it continues to grow, though even then the speed is worrying.

As for the purpose, I don't know. Initially we suspected psionic capability, but scans with equipment imported from Zhodani space reveal no heightened ability. In fact in one patient, the new organ has affected psychic functioning.

I think there is a definite connection to the flouride tunnels..."

He swipes the screen bringing up a flouride polymer molecule on screen.

"...92% of the flouride compounds found in the tunnels have also been found in the subject's neural tissue."

"The patients presented with headaches from exposure. Have they been assigned to tasks in these rock formations? Did they report anything unusual?"

Nathan scans the tank's real time data feed and compares it to previous readings.

Evade

Fourier wrote: »

He arrives out in the valleys far to the south. A smallish crowd of a hundred or so is busy waiting for the next race. A bit of a delay as one of the drivers was taken in with a severe migraine.

Kei momentarily thinks "I could race..." then quickly follows up with "No. Not today"


Kei heads for the bar and looks for a quiet, by racetrack standards anyway, booth.

Nebelwerfer

Fourier wrote: »

"I'm from a rare subbranch of humanity, we developed on a very toxic jungle world. Not many of us purebloods left, ever since contact with the rest of the human race...

Say there's a bar, 'Down and Out'...charming" she says with a smirk on her face.

"I am sorry, to hear that... Terrans fear, what they do not know... Especially, when it otherwise seems familiar..."

"Is there, something peculiar... about your biology, versus that of the normal meatsticks?"

Mufasta'r laughs at the sight of the dwelling, called 'Down & Out'.

"Down and Out seems as charming as it will get..."

"Let us go there"

Mufasta'r heads to the bar with his companion.

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

"The patients presented with headaches from exposure. Have they been assigned to tasks in these rock formations? Did they report anything unusual?"

Nathan scans the tank's real time data feed and compares it to previous readings.

"They had been, at least the first few cases. There have been isolated cases since then, appearing only in the last two day, either they have traveled out to the rock formations outside of company business or the condition is infectious, though I doubt the later."

The tank's data confirms the subject is in a near frozen state, corresponding with the previous data, his body has only advanced a few seconds since he was placed in here two weeks ago.

Fourier

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

"I am sorry, to hear that... Terrans fear, what they do not know... Especially, when it otherwise seems familiar..."

"Is there, something peculiar... about your biology, versus that of the normal meatsticks?"

"Toxins have little effect on us, most of them anyway. I can down a bottle of strychnine with no effects. Also means I can't get drunk though. Bit weaker physically though."

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

Mufasta'r laughs at the sight of the dwelling, called 'Down & Out'.

"Down and Out seems as charming as it will get..."

"Let us go there"

Mufasta'r heads to the bar with his companion.

The bar, such as it is, has a collection of cybers plugged in while having a loud philosophical discussion. The non-augmented patrons seem to be drinking some kind of brown fluid, most likely meatstick ale. The decor is bare walls and neon signs. One holographic image of band playing some grating human song.

The bartender is an automated console.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

"The races, Zero-G action center, tours of the mines, the last one is a bit boring at first, but some of the sights are pretty..." he stops holding his hand to his temple "...sorry, this headache is killing me."

"Ha! Man, you look like I want to feel. You should look after that though, headaches in a 'forma colony usually end up being leaks or bad filters - some kind of bug in the system. No one likes a bug-hunt, but you ignore **** like that for long enough, they end up calling in people like me 'cause there's no one left alive to radio out for help and everyone thinks you've been butchered by the boogieman. Ever tried shooting Carbon Monoxide? It's a pointless waste of government resources - check your seals, man, look after yourself.

So if I were to go on a tour of these mines, where do they leave from?"

Nebelwerfer

Mufasta'r belts out laughing.

"Strychnine huh? Neurotoxins... is not something I would down, for a fun time... though If I did, I'd hope to at least convulse into a more elated spirit".

"Lets see if we can get something to hydrate... even if it does not have the desired effect for either of us..."

Mufasta'r orders some meatstick ale for engineer and himself.

"Here is to good health... and good fortune".

Mufasta'r looks out for any patrons to strike a conversation with.

Nimroth

Fourier wrote: »

"They had been, at least the first few cases. There have been isolated cases since then, appearing only in the last two day, either they have traveled out to the rock formations outside of company business or the condition is infectious, though I doubt the later."

The tank's data confirms the subject is in a near frozen state, corresponding with the previous data, his body has only advanced a few seconds since he was placed in here two weeks ago.

Nathan summarizes his medical opinion calmly although he's feeling extremely anxious. He's never seen anything like this before and the fact that even scientists of this caliber can't contain it completely makes him very uneasy.
For the uninitiated bystander his diagnosis (or at least his best stab at it) would sound like a cascade of big medical words, but he knows his conversation partner follows with ease.
"For all these reasons one might assume that this is not a bacterial or viral infection, but rather a parasitic one. Would you concur?"
"How far along are you to develop a test for this condition? I think it would be diligent to make sure this is as contained as we all hope."

Fourier

Evade wrote: »

Kei momentarily thinks "I could race..." then quickly follows up with "No. Not today"


Kei heads for the bar and looks for a quiet, by racetrack standards anyway, booth.

From her booth, Kei can see the speedsters being lowered onto the track. Antigrav vehicles, slow compared to the ones the military has, but fast for the technology typical out here in the old colonies.

She can see the team missing their driver arguing.

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

So if I were to go on a tour of these mines, where do they leave from?"

"Two floors down in this complex. One leaves every half hour."

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

"For all these reasons one might assume that this is not a bacterial or viral infection, but rather a parasitic one. Would you concur?"
"How far along are you to develop a test for this condition? I think it would be diligent to make sure this is as contained as we all hope."

"Parasitic would be my guess, a parasite at the genetic level, to modify the subject's genetic code though, without knowing the human genome in advance...unless of course it does. We did a sweep of the tunnels, but found nothing.


The only test as of now is a proper genetic sampling of the neural tissue. Difficult to apply colony wide. Though we might reach that point..."

Fourier

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

Mufasta'r looks out for any patrons to strike a conversation with.

An old cyborg with some kind of retinal implant over his left eye sits on his own, glancing around the bar.

The ale is powerful stuff, Mufasta'r feels the room grow a bit brighter.

Nimroth

Fourier wrote: »

"Parasitic would be my guess, a parasite at the genetic level, to modify the subject's genetic code though, without knowing the human genome in advance...unless of course it does. We did a sweep of the tunnels, but found nothing.


The only test as of now is a proper genetic sampling of the neural tissue. Difficult to apply colony wide. Though we might reach that point..."

"How long would a full genetic scan take per patient with the equipment you have on site? With a colony this size this could take a while? Maybe it would be easier to search for raised fluoride levels? Restricting the search pattern to the specific markers relevant to identify the local source could at least give an insight?"

Nathan looks around for a medical scanner.

Banjo

Lena thanks the barkeep for the shot, wishes him well and heads downstairs. Heirarchy of needs. If you can't get drunk, go to church, if you can't go to church go to school.

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

"How long would a full genetic scan take per patient with the equipment you have on site? With a colony this size this could take a while? Maybe it would be easier to search for raised fluoride levels? Restricting the search pattern to the specific markers relevant to identify the local source could at least give an insight?"

Nathan looks around for a medical scanner.

Spachens opens a comm call.

"Fulchz, Mant come to the stasis tank, I want to discuss something with you."

Fulchz comes on screen, an off baseline human with frills along his neck.
"No problem"

Mant follows, a hiver:


It does the typical arm waves and dancing that the unit on its back converts to human speech.

"Coming Spachens"

Spachens turns back to Nathan.

"We have tried to isolate the flouride concentration in the blood, but it is surprisingly low outside the cranium, almost at normal levels..." he laughs a little "...almost to avoid detection, although I hope that isn't true."

The other two arrive.

"Dr. Cole here has reached the same conclusions as ourselves, right down to a flouride based test. Perhaps we can figure out a quicker test, or a way of mass testing?"

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Lena thanks the barkeep for the shot, wishes him well and heads downstairs. Heirarchy of needs. If you can't get drunk, go to church, if you can't go to church go to school.

When Lena reaches the tram station, it seems the trip is being held up by a man who has collapsed. The tour operator informs everyone that colony medical is on its way.

Evade

Kei grabs the attention of a passing waiter "A bottle of whiskey and two glasses please"


Once the waiter leaves Kei pulls a photograph out of her wallet





the back reads LR Lowgrav, Cobbler, Hotdog, Slamdunk and is dated about 5 years ago.


"Well Slamdunk, I said we go to a place like this again"

Banjo

Having no medical training of her own, Lena looks to see who's trying not to meet anyone's gaze. There's always someone in a civilian crowd who'd rather let a man die than grow a clit and take responsibility.

Nimroth

Fourier wrote: »

Spachens opens a comm call.

"Fulchz, Mant come to the stasis tank, I want to discuss something with you."

Fulchz comes on screen, an off baseline human with frills along his neck.
"No problem"

Mant follows, a hiver:


It does the typical arm waves and dancing that the unit on its back converts to human speech.

"Coming Spachens"

Spachens turns back to Nathan.

"We have tried to isolate the flouride concentration in the blood, but it is surprisingly low outside the cranium, almost at normal levels..." he laughs a little "...almost to avoid detection, although I hope that isn't true."

The other two arrive.

"Dr. Cole here has reached the same conclusions as ourselves, right down to a flouride based test. Perhaps we can figure out a quicker test, or a way of mass testing?"

He turns towards the two new arrivals and smiles.
"It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance."
He steps forward to shake Dr. Fulchz hand then turns to Mant.
Offering his hand to shake would probably send the wrong signal to the hiver, so he takes a slight bow instead.

"Maybe instead of looking for it, you can make the patients come to you. The first symptoms were headaches. So what if a public health bulletin would be advising all citizens that experience them to stop by the next mobile med unit for a quick scan. With a bit creativity around the reasons and a bit of fear of worse symptoms to come, not the truth obviously, I'm sure one would get a better picture. "

Fourier

Evade wrote: »

Kei grabs the attention of a passing waiter "A bottle of whiskey and two glasses please"


Once the waiter leaves Kei pulls a photograph out of her wallet





the back reads LR Lowgrav, Cobbler, Hotdog, Slamdunk and is dated about 5 years ago.


"Well Slamdunk, I said we go to a place like this again"

The waiter returns with the whiskey.

"Two glasses miss?" he says holding them out "Should I reserve the booth, a romantic occasion?"

Outside the speedsters start their antigrav engines and fire through the canyon. A leisurely Mach 7.

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

Having no medical training of her own, Lena looks to see who's trying not to meet anyone's gaze. There's always someone in a civilian crowd who'd rather let a man die than grow a clit and take responsibility.

And she's right, two young women stare at each other and then awkwardly at the ground.

The man's hand begins to show a slight twitch.

Nimroth

Nathan continues to look for the scanner. He also tries to remember who the senior medical officer of this facility is.

Fourier

Nimroth wrote: »

Nathan continues to look for the scanner. He also tries to remember who the senior medical officer of this facility is.

The senior medical officer is a Carlos Smith, though colonial authority treats him as outranked in this matter by Spachens and Fulchz, who have dealt with colonial infections before. Though Mant has the greatest medical knowledge according to his datapad file.

The scanner lies on a desk on the other side of the room.

"Maybe instead of looking for it, you can make the patients come to you. The first symptoms were headaches. So what if a public health bulletin would be advising all citizens that experience them to stop by the next mobile med unit for a quick scan. With a bit creativity around the reasons and a bit of fear of worse symptoms to come, not the truth obviously, I'm sure one would get a better picture. "

Mant's unit responds.

"Agreed, I will speak to colonial authority, convince them to do this, unless you two have strong reasons negating?"

Both shake their heads and Mant walks out of the room.

OOC: In-game your characters would know that Hivers are renowned for their expertise in manipulating others.

Fourier

OOC: Holding my responses there

Evade

"No, I'm fine like this. Thank you"


Once she's alone again she pours whisky into both glasses leaving one as if there was someone opposite her and gulps down the other and quickly refills it.



Looking at the photo "I still don't know how you convinced the entire squadron to go to a dingy racetrack for our only leave of the cruise, but damn did we have a good night"


She drinks and refills.


"The war always got in the way of our plans to do it again"


She drinks and refills.


"And then I killed you"


Drinks and refills.


Drinks.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

And she's right, two young women stare at each other and then awkwardly at the ground.

The man's hand begins to show a slight twitch.

Approaching them, Lena salutes.
"Ma'ams, this man needs your help. You tell me what you need and we'll find you someone can get you it. You try n help, sure, he may not make it but you could be the difference. Sit here awkwardly pretending you're normal like the rest of these drones, damnitt he's gonna die. Cmon.
Let's go save a life.

Nebelwerfer

Fourier wrote: »

An old cyborg with some kind of retinal implant over his left eye sits on his own, glancing around the bar.

The ale is powerful stuff, Mufasta'r feels the room grow a bit brighter.

Mufasta'r feels the effects of the ale quickly, with it rushing to his head, he feels a sudden need to strike up conversation.

He notices an old cyborg, with a retinal implant sitting over to his left, curiously looking around.

He wraps his arm around Golpspirot and drags her along with him, in the direction of the cyborg, intent to strike a conversation.

"Greetings fellow traveler..."

"What has you here?"

"Here for the conversation... refreshments... or otherwise?".

Mufasta'r belts out some laughter, moves forward into the cyborg's vision, with a grin on his face, eagerly awaiting the response.

Nimroth

Nathan walks across and picks up the medical scanner.
He takes a full scan of himself and requests permission to do the same for the other two.
Not that he expects to find anything but you never can be too sure and it's probably good to have an updated baseline just in case.

Evade

Drinks