NOBODY: During one of the periods when one of the miners next visits the Rock, they can find that Eli and Surge are working darn near nonstop on the Rock and Pebble. Those coming in will find that Eli will visit briefly, but will herd them towards the computer to set up each of their user accounts. Eli and Surge have set up several layers of security, which Eli will take the time to explain carefully and thoroughly. Eli asks that visitors read through the various reports on the schedule before barraging Eli or Surge with questions on their progress.
NOBODY: Once a visitor begins reviewing the schedule and reports, they will find that that the schedule has been updated significantly, and that Eli's estimated timetable has been expanded to six months + one month. The visitor can find the information at the highest level of security. Eli, Vana, and Surge have found a hidden level in the Rock. The level is between the two obvious levels. The first clue was when Eli and Surge were looking over the Pebble's docking bay. Therein was found an unusual panel that defied our attempts to open it directly.
NOBODY: Eli will recommend that we look over the Pebble to see if
there might be a matching panel. The trigger may be in the Pebble. It
also may be a switch triggered from the bridge. If we don't find
anything like physical switch, then we can earmark that when we look
into the electrical curcuitry and/or programming of the both the Rock
and the Pebble during the extensive survey/inventory. If we find a
corresponding panel on the Pebble, but no switch, or are unable to
activate the panels via these switches, then we could try it by lining
up the Pebbles pael with the Rock's panel. Good chance its a nice
little smuggler's hatch. If we don't find any physical trigger during
this search, then we could look into seeing if Curt has enough of his
desolid ability to inspect that area. Eli will make sure that it is
noted in the schedule, but also flagged for removal once we have a good
idea what we have.
GM: When you finish searching the docking bay and Vamperina brings
PEBBLE back in, you spend a little time searching PEBBLE but do not
find any other hatch or airlock. You ask Vamperina to try to line up
the airlock on PEBBLE with the hidden panel. It takes a little time to
do this since, unlike the two airlocks, there is no indicator to show
when she is lined up. However, as she is trying to line the ship up,
Surge senses something in the control panel on PEBBLE. There is an
indicator, but it is not activating on the control panel. Surge and
Eli then spend some time with their electronics tools investigating
this and find that a control panel indicator can be activated for the
hidden panel by pushing a few buttons in a specific order. Surge does
this and the indicator activates. Vamperina initiates docking which,
to her surprise, is successful. PEBBLE is now docked at the panel
which means that the panel must have slid open and extended some sort
of docking collar.
Sure enough, when you cycle the airlock (taking all necessary
precautions, of course) you find yourself entering another airlock the
same size as the one on the Bridge level. When you pass through this
airlock, you find yourself in a large shop area designed as both an
electronics and a mechanics shop. There is also an elevator in this
room. It is in the same location as the elevator on the other two
decks. It is now obvious that this level is nestled between the other
two levels, with the Bridge level above you and the Engineering level
below you. The elevator almost certainly also has some sort of
combination that you can press to get to this level. You investigate
and find this to be the case.
Beyond the workshop is a large recreation room. There are game tables,
couches and a large electronic entertainment system here that is bigger
and better than the one in the wardroom.
The remainder of this level is occupied by two more staterooms and a
passenger suite. Stateroom 5 looks unused, but stateroom 6 and the
passenger stateroom look very used. Stateroom 6 is obviously the room
of a young girl. It is decorated like a young girl would decorate it
and the cabinets and storage areas are filled with toys, games and
clothing that a normal girl of 9 or 10 might have in her room.
The passenger suite is obviously set up for use by a man and a woman.
The suite includes a small kitchenette. There are also some actual
printed books in a book cabinet. About half are written in imperial
and all have to do with psionic research, literature and case studies.
The remainder of the books are all written in the same language. You
don't know for certain, but you think it might be Zhodani. You find
some written materials that seem to indicate that the books and notes
(and probably the ship) belong to Professor C. R. Riket. You have
never heard of him before.
NOBODY: Steve, were there any pictures, in the 2nd level staterooms or
in the ship records, that might indicate what the previous owners looked
like?
GM: Yes, when you look over the passenger suite, you find a few pictures
of a man, woman and child. The child is the girl that is sleeping in
stateroom 2. Some written notes indicate that they are Professor
Ricket, his wife Carlotta, and their daughter Lisan.
NOBODY: At the end of the report is a recommendation from Eli. He suggests that those visiting the hidden deck disturb as little as possible, and not remove anything from that specific deck, no matter how trivial. Reading further, it is easy to see that Eli has kicked up the paranoia level for the survey/inventory schedule, which has nearly doubled the time he has alloted. Eli gives several and repeated warnings of possible boobytraps and security features that a Zhodani spy might have in place. He also strongly recommends no solo explorations of the hidden deck and prefers that either he or Surge be present during such.
CURT: Cool! Good going you two. Is there a map of the level we can see?
VAMPERINA: Vamperina adds her kudos as well, "Yes, a very good job. Keep up the good work. I personally have no problem staying here for another six or seven months mining. With Curt adding his skills, we are going to be pulling in some pretty good cash. We can then plan on a trip to Circle City in about five months to get our imperial IDs."
CURT: Are we are going to look into getting captains licenses and such for those that need them as well?
VAMPERINA: "I have two questions. Do you plan to try to open the safe and, if so, when? Do you plan to awaken the girl and, if so, when. I would like to be there you awaken the girl."
NOBODY: "Hmm. Curt has made mention of opening it as well. Its about a third of the way down the schedule, barring any serious changes, so in about two months we should be ready to begin our examinations of the safe and, hopefully, within a week feel confident in making an attempt to open it. The highest priorities right now are control and security. Surge is going to be delving into the computer setup extensively, and I am going to alternate reading every bit of hardcopy and soft data with electrical curcuittry and assisting Surge. I need to absorb all the data available relating to this ship and its previous owners so that I can make an analysis and file a report on the schedule for all of you to review."
CURT: I personally think waking the girl should be at the bottom of the list before we leave. Having her awake when most likely her entire family is dead and then having to deal with her for multiple months on the ship with just one or two strange guys is going to make for a bad situation. We also can't just put her down on the moon for many obvious reasons as well.
VAMPERINA: "That's a pretty good point, Curt, and a good argument for waiting until we are ready to leave. Then we will need to decide what to do. It sounds like she is the daughter of the owners so the ship will probably end up being hers."
NOBODY: "I have stated this before, but not to the entire group. The little girl poses entirely too many potential problems, including the possibility of being a very powerful psi and thus potentially very dangerous. Her awakening could trigger so many variables that could require us to leave this system in a huryy that I feel we should wait until we feel we are fully ready to undertake an extended voyage at a moments notice.
CURT: This is a very good point. The girl could easily be a very powerful Psioncist and waking her up in an uncontrolled environment could pose huge problems.
VAMPERINA: "While I agree that it is a remote possibility, I am still not willing to let a little girl waste away in a sleep tank just because we think she MIGHT be a powerful psionicist. However, I do agree that waiting until we are ready to leave is a good idea."
CURT: You could be right Vamp. My original thinking was that they had gone to the trouble of installing this stasis chamber in her bedroom for a reason, and that reason was she was dangerous to those around her. Now that we found her bedroom was actually on the hidden level, to some extent this seems less likely now. I still wonder though why they had a stasis tube installed in a stateroom and then put her in the pod. Learning now that the ship seems to have been dedicated to learning about or at least searching out Psionic people it seems to be the likelihood of her being a Psi is high.
NOBODY: "Umm. Did I miss a meeting? When did you learn that this ship was intended for searching out Psi's and studying psionics? My current summation is that this is some sort of Zho spy ship."
VAMPERINA: "You could be right, Eli, but based on the information that you and Surge have uncovered, and what Max has told us, I am also more inclined to agree with Curt. Why do you think it is a Zhodani spy ship? Also, when you say Zho spy ship, do you mean a ship that was used by the empire to spy on the Zhodani, or a Zhodani ship used to spy on the empire?"
NOBODY: "Damn! A whole different angle to consider. I guess that I'm hung up on the Zho spy thing since that is what I was falsely convicted of and locked away for. If he was actually searching for psionicists and/or mutants, then we may have just have walked into a trap or conspiracy guide point."
.........
CURT: That said, being a person with mutations like everyone else here, I am certainly not saying we should just leave her in there to rot. That would be worse that what was done to us. All I was saying was that we need to be "ready" when we wake her up, just in case. Ready being, we have all our ID's, those that need them have licenses to use the ship, the ship is all repaired, and we are basically ready to leave if shit hits the fan, or whatever. I agree what will most likely happen is that she will wake up and be scared and Nobody will have to become her nursemaid *Curt winks and grins at Nobody*, I just don't want to be surprised before we are ready.
..........
NOBODY: Eli looks alarmed, "Wasting away?" He looks sharply over at Max. "I thought that cold-sleep pods were supposed to prevent that sort of thing. If she is in medical danger, Max, shouldn't we pull her out as soon as possible? I don't want to be responsible for her death just because I wanted to wait for the best moment for us?"
VAMPERINA: Vamperina smiles and replies, "Don't be so literal, Eli. I'm talking about leaving her in a cold sleep chamber indefinitely, not a danger from the cold sleep itself. Max and I already examined her and she seems fine."
MAX: "Cold sleep is inherently dangerous but only at each end when the subject is initially put into cold sleep and when they are removed from cold sleep. I don't believe there is any danger to her right now."
NOBODY: Eli looks relieved.
SURGE: Surge nods at all the comments. "I'd say we leave the girl for now. It sounds like having her wait another year is not a big deal. Waking her would complicate matters greatly. Until we have a handle on everything and are ready to depart this system we need to minimize the distractions. We do need to wake her though. I don't feel comfortable with any other action. For better or worse, we need to resolve this. I don't want this ship if it seems likely we are stealing it from living owners. If we can get out of this system that is more than enough for me. While I'd love to be part owner of a spaceship I want it to be as clean as possible."
NOBODY: "Wouldn't it be interesting if the psychologist at the prison turned out to be our man? I'm betting that he has some really interesting stuff in his labs for detecting psionics. This asteroid-shaped ship would explain how he was able to get close enough to detect my psionic study out in the middle of an asteroid belt in the middle of nowhere. How he ever suspected me in the first place is what puzzles me. If he is the sunuvab!tch that got me falsely convicted and sent to prison, his nose and my fist have a few appointments."
SURGE: Surge listens with a slightly confused look. "I suppose it would be interesting. Though I haven't found anything yet to suggest a link." Surge shrugs.
SURGE: "I also don't feel she's a powerful psionicist. She may be but I wouldn't assume that. We should take precautions though. I also don't necessarily feel this is a Zhodani spy ship. My guess based on the information I've seen that this was this professor's private vessel that he used to conduct his research. Since he wished to study psionics he would want to go to Zhodani space. As PEBBLE has shielding from psi activity that would allow him to safely get to and from his research locations."
NOBODY: "Where do you get these feelings, Surge? Do you have some mental abilities that you aren't telling us about? Personally, I don't think that the child is a powerful psionicist, but I do allow for the possibility. Are you using some sort of woman's intuition-type power?"
SURGE: Surge frowns then replies, "I do not know where they come from. Sometimes they are stronger than at other times. At this point I don't have a strong intuition about it." Surge shrugs.
..........
VAMPERINA: Turning to Surge and Eli, Vamperina continues, "Since there is obvious interest in the contents of the safe, is there any reason not to move it up in your schedule? Do you think you can open it Surge? If so, how long do you think it will take?"
NOBODY: "I'm hoping, that by reading every scrap of information that I can find on the Rock and Pebble, that I can run across some possible clues as to the safest manner to access the safe. If we mess up our attempt to access the safe we could possibly set off some computer-lockdown or self-destruct device. I'm feeling pretty confident that it is not the only safe on this vessel. I'm guessing we have more interesting stuff hidden primarily on deck 2.
NOBODY: If Surge has excellent success securing total control of the computer and subsystems, and I find nothing written that leads me to suspect any serious traps, then we might be able to move it up to about two weeks from now, at best estimate. I'm expecting more of like a month, but we'll see.
VAMPERINA: Vamperina nods and then waits to hear what Surge has to say about the matter.
SURGE: "The safe will be a challenge but it is definitely possible. One of the problems is I don't have the preferred tools to open it. I would like to have electronics lockpicks. I can open it with the electronics toolkit but I'll be at a disadvantage. I would want more time to study the safe before opening it. Perhaps the next time you go to Black Moon we can see if Jack can get some. For now, I suggest we wait on it. The ship's computer will keep me busy for some time and I would like to have a better handle of what we've got here. I also want to be as certain as possible about the consequences of failing to open the safe as well."
VAMPERINA: "Sounds good. Did you want to risk a transmission to Jack to ask him to try to find the tools you need? I would like to make the next trip to Black Moon our last trip. Even with imperial IDs and valid licenses, I don't want to try to land at Circle City spaceport because we won't own the ship and, in fact, don't really know who does. We could risk another trip that is close in to Circle City but I think that should only be as a last resort and only if there is a strong justification for it. To put it another way, I think our next trip to Black Moon will have us landing a long ways from Circle City and then getting in to the city using our own powers, staying long enough to get our imperial IDs and licenses, and then leaving for good with all of us coming along, including Jack."
SURGE: "Let me confirm the security first. If I deem that an attempt won't have negative effects on the ship then I'm willing to attempt it with my current tools. If I fail that then a call would be justified. I'd prefer to minimize communications, if possible. So maybe calling a month before we intend to return to Black Moon."
SURGE: "I agree with the risks of flying to Circle City. I would too like to minimize landings on the planet. Once we get our IDs I'd like to fly from here and go to another system."
NOBODY: "There's a good chance that you will find what you need in the labs. Still, I would really like the ship controls and computers to be as secure as possible before we start fiddling around. Rushing ahead in this could very well cause unforeseen problems. I know all of you are bored being stuck with the mining, but we do have the time, and we should proceed with all due care."
SURGE: Surge frowns, "You think that they would have electronic lockpicks? I do not hold much hope that we'll find such a tool. Remember this is their safe. They would be able to open this with their personal access. However, I would like the both of us to look over the safe when you are ready. I'm comfortable attempting to open the safe after we look it over for traps and the like. Nobody, let me know when you have it scheduled to look over the safe."
..........
SURGE: "I will also say that this computer system is fairly complex. As with any computer with a VR environment things within can be well-hidden. It is quite possible that a lot of useful information is hidden in there and it may take me some time to find it. There is also the potential that the system will have ICE. Actually my imperial net power will aid greatly with this. I may have not explained this fully yet but this power allows me to project a virtual reality image of my mind into a VR environment. My mind is able to function as fully as I can normally and still maintain contact with my physical self. However, I have very little access to it currently so it may be another month or two before I can be very effective in there. The more access I have it the stronger my presence will be there."
NOBODY: "I'll keep helping you with that, Surge. It is too useful an ability in many situations for you not to have access to it. With this added information, I really want to ask the rest of you to cool your jets and not push us to speed up unless we have no other choices. Let's do this right the first time."
SURGE: "Yes, now that I've confirmed that the ship has a VR environment it does place that ability as very important. Without it I don't know how long it would take to fully search out the system. The VR interface is nowhere close to the efficiency and power of my VR image. It is quite possible that the computer system could do much with the ship if there was a sleeper program."
VAMPERINA: "I agree that we don't want to get sloppy. Here is what I would like to see happen. I would like this ship to be ready to fly on a moment's notice. That means getting the stuff that we know is broken, like the wardroom hatch cover, fixed immediately." Then, looking sternly at Eli, she continues, "It also means no tearing vital equipment apart just to see what makes it tick. There are better times and places to do that." She relaxes and returns her gaze to everyone else. "Once we have some confidence that the ship is ready to fly, I'm all for giving Eli and Surge all the time they need to search out every inch of the ship and get familiar with it. I'm not getting bored mining and have no problem staying here for another year or two if necessary. I just want to know that, if the sh*t hits the fan, that we can get out of here with some confidence that the ship will work. Obviously we won't know for sure until we light the main engines but my confidence will be much higher if we give Eli and Surge the time they need to fully evaluate the ship."
CURT: Curt will mention that he is not bored of Mining either. It's good money. Granted I wouldn't want to do it the rest of my life, but until we have all the money we require, I don't mind doing it.
SURGE: "I can confirm that the avionics systems are in running shape if we need to get out of here in a hurry. I will continue to go through the computer system to make sure we have the best grasp of what's in there as we can. Nobody, do you need some help in fixing that hatch? I can lend a hand if you want."
NOBODY: Eli looks at the ground and his face flushes. "That's never been my intention," the old man mumbles, "but I do want to try to eliminate any future nasty surprises in the basic systems; engines, electronics, and computer. As long as we can identify the majority, and determine that the rest are harmless or neutralized, I don't see any reason to tear down any components just to find out what makes them tick. At least, not until we are in a safer region of space with more confidence in our security. My current schedule doesn't include any such detailed work, but is to ensure the Rock and Pebble are flight worthy as soon as possible, which also includes being as fully supplied as we can make it.
NOBODY: Control and security is the highest priority. That's to ensure that forther proddings into the ship's workings won't set off any boobytraps, failsafes, or self-destructs. The finding of deck 2 has caused me to bump this priority up several notches. Then the engines, flight and navigation systems, which include repair capabilities and materials. Then life support, which includes the basic amenities for survival like food and water, and armament. After that, we review the overall interaction and performance. Synchronize and tweak.
NOBODY: After all of that, then we can play with the new sparkly toys."
VAMPERINA: "That sounds good, Eli. I definitely appreciate the fact that you are very thorough in your duties. In fleet jargon, why don't we try to keep the ship in B2 status and, if you find that you need to do some maintenance on equipment that will cause it to go down for longer than 2 hours, you let everyone know and we go to B6 status."
NOBODY: Eli nods. "That's do-able."
GM: Eli is very familiar with fleet readiness states though no one else likely is. "A" means underway. "Bx" means in port or docked but ready to go on "x" hours notice. Typical "B" readiness states are B0 (the crew is onboard and the ship is literally ready to go on a moments notice), B2 (ready to go on 2 hours notice), B6, B12, B24, B48, B72 and B96. "C" state means in dry dock or in port/docked for long term repairs or maintenance. By working to keep the ship in B2 status, it means that Surge and Eli can do maintenance on equipment as long as they know that they can have everything back together again within 2 hours.
VAMPERINA: "I would also like to suggest that at least one of us miners will visit ROCK at least every other day just to keep the lines of communication open. Curt is the obvious one for that task since he doesn't need to sleep. Is that okay with you Curt?"
CURT: "Yea, that's fine with me. I was planning on spending an occasional night there anyway when it was convenient."
CHASE: Pipes up and says "It would be a good idea to run a full system sweep if it hasn't been mentioned, shields, weapons, life support and the what not. We know how much food we have...I think it would be best to keep the girl out for the time being unless of coarse she is in medical need or in danger. We do have some time that we can do this...no one else is aware of this activity at the moment, which tells me keep a low profile on this one."
VAMPERINA: "I agree though I will leave it up to Eli and Surge on exactly when the full systems sweep should happen."
GM: Marty, Mike, go ahead and send me your mechanics die rolls. For every 2 points that Surge makes his roll by, Eli will be at +1 to his roll.
..........
SURGE: "One thing that I find very fascinating is the reason why this ship is here. I hope to find out why as I search the computer for some personal logs. For instance, where are the two adults? Since PEBBLE is here how did they depart? If foul play was involved why is the ship still intact and why does the little girl sleep unharmed?"
..........
MAX: "One thing that I want to add is that I knew Professor Ricket back when we were both at the Institute of Systems Studies. He was a colleague that I knew though not very well. I do recall that he was very interested in studying psionics and it was for this reason that he left the institute. As you are all aware," Max adds dryly, "psionics is not exactly a popular topic in the empire."
NOBODY: "You knew Ricket? I'll definitely want to pick your brain for anything you might know about this guy. Perhaps even literally. Heh." Eli seems kind of nervous making such a joke. His eyes dart around to see if it was well-received.
MAX: "We can talk about it. But first and I want to look over the books that you found."
NOBODY: The old man relaxes slightly and responds, "Understood. Please keep in mind my warnings about possible boobytraps and causing minimal disturbance on deck 2 until Surge and I have had a chance to carefully look it over and perform an inventory."
MAX: "If one of you wants to come with me while I examine the books, I have no objection."
NOBODY: "Since I plan to read all of them anyway as part of the survey, we could do it together."
MAX: Max looks interested. "Does that mean you know how to read Zhodani? It's not a language that I know, but I would like to pick it up."
NOBODY: "No, but half of the books are in Imperial, and I can memorize the Zhodani texts for later translation. Plus I can examine/scan the books for any physically hidden items."
..........
GM: I don't think I gave you any hard numbers before but there are 623 person days worth of food on the ship. Someone will need to keep track of it. It shouldn't be too difficult since Eli is the only one eating it. Vamperina, Max and Chase eat at the mining pod, and Surge and Curt don't need to eat.
GM: Should we time flow to the end of February?
..........
SURGE: Surge will brief everyone more specifically on the computer systems:
Here is a list of the programs currently installed on the ship's computer:
Star Maps - Can read star map software
Galactic Encyclopedia - An encyclopedia
Language: Imperial - Knowledge of Imperial (for spoken commands)
Movies - Good selection of entertainment
Music - Good selection of entertainment
Video Games - Good selection of entertainment
Drive Starship from A to B - Basically an autopilot capable of handling
minor emergencies
Life Support
Search Library for Information - A search program
Show Entertainment - An entertainment program
Spoken Commands - Can understand spoken commands
Astrogation - Can plot courses though not as well as you
Sensors Operation - Can handle automatic sensor operations
Starship Engineer - Can handle engineering tasks
Starship Pilot - Can pilot the ship
SURGE: Surge explains that the last few programs allow the ship to be operated by someone with no skill in piloting, astrogation, sensor ops or engineering. However this type of software is relatively new and is generally not as good or as fast or as capable of handling irregularities as a skilled pilot, astrogator or engineer.
SURGE: Because the computer has the Spoken Commands program, it can be accessed from anywhere on the ship by issuing spoken commands. Thus, someone in a stateroom can order to computer to increase or decrease the temperature in their room and the life support program will be tweaked accordingly. To use Spoken Commands, each authorized user must have an account set up, with their voice recorded in the computer's voice recognition system.
SURGE: The Star Map software has a single star chart loaded. The star chart is for the Chronor subsector. A route is mapped out in the software to a system called Zeycude, which seems to be in Zhodani space.
..........
NOBODY: The next time Curt shows up at the Rock, he will read a report by Eli that indicates that the wardroom hatch forced opened by Vana has been repaired, but the hatch to the turret needs replacement parts in order to effect full repairs. The report further explains that the turret hatch is still usable, but requires manual activation in order to open and close. The turret has been left in the closed position in order to maintain the integrity of the asteroid disguise.
NOBODY: There is a list of necessary parts with estimated costs of Cr1500-3000.
NOBODY: There is a recommendation that the shopping for the parts be delayed until our last trip to Circle City as the functioning of the hatch is not critical to the overall functioning of the Rock. |