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4 months ago ::
Feb 04, 2013 - 6:18PM
#351
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Linson just blinked at Eddy's story. They all had 'history', otherwise they wouldn't be here, simples. And Linson had come to terms with signing his soul away long ago, he was not in charge of his own destiny without any formal commitment to Firewall, they were just in your face with it, no news there.
"I'd prefer to wait till were in a secure location before opening up Henrick. Call me paranoid if you like," there was a wink at Eddy for that, "but we should vet him before leting him operate independently along side us. Maybe even like, check with the higher ups to see where he might stand on a need to know basis. If everything's sweet we can chat and let him go on his way. But just because it's labeled 'Sentinel' doesn't mean jack."
"Remember Tak's comments? I'm half surprised he doesn't just gun us all down and walk off with his brothers and sisters. I'm very grateful he hasn't, thank you Tak, one memory of dying is quite enough, believe me! But right now, nobody, and I mean nobody, outside of us here can know about current investigation status, or we're all for the recycle chamber. We listen to what Henrick has to say, nothing more."
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4 months ago ::
Feb 04, 2013 - 6:32PM
#352
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Date Joined:
Oct 14, 2004
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Tak offers a slightly lopsided smile in reply. If he were going to kill them all he'd wait until they were in transit and pick them off one by one, obviously. Improvised bombs would work best. It's a pretty large group, so he'd have to play the "there's a killer out there hunting us down" card for awhile so they didn't all turn on him at once. Eddy would have to be first, no question. Too dangerous to leave her an active party...
But that's not what he is here to do.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 05, 2013 - 3:42AM
#353
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Oskar listens to Eddy's speech without showing any signs of emotion, but inside his mind is in turmoil. As the speech ends, Oskar walks out the door without a word. Once outside he walks around the nearest corner, sits down on the ground and pops a Comfurt. Feeling the calm envelop him as a thick blanket, his mind can finally start processing Eddy's speech. Suddenly his own conflict with the Jovians seem like child's play and Oskar's first reaction is to get out, get back to living a peaceful life as a scientist. But Eddy made it abundantly clear that this is not an option, and Oskar knows it is true. "Well Siv, I guess life just made a turn for the worse... Could you dig up any old Cognite or Firewall procedure documents for this type of situation? I'm not sure I'm ready to follow Eddy's rather extreme measures... And while you're at it, I need a safe place to store my equipment. Somewhere not too far away, but nowhere I or any of the others have any connection to. And of course, get that aquired through other channels, no link to me. I'm sure Firewall will be helpful if it means better access to my services in the future." Oskar then spends a minute reconfiguring and upgrading the security in the firewalls of his simulspace units and the firewall all the equipment on his Robomule is connected through. He then returns to the others. "I'm sorry about that... You might all be hardened, experienced Firewall agents, but until this moment I've just been a scientist helping Firewall from time to time... I understand that I need to start differently, but I hope you don't mind me not blowing up the whole block." He says the last words with a slight smile. "And I'm not destroying all my equipment, but I'm moving it to a new location, not connected to any of us." Once a new location for his equipment is found, Oskar will release a custom created virus to disable all the sensors in as big an area around the safe house as possible (not centered on the safehouse of course) to allow the robomule to move to the new location. (I'm assuming robomules moving cargo through town is a pretty common thing).
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4 months ago ::
Feb 05, 2013 - 11:05AM
#354
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Date Joined:
Dec 12, 2003
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Tension is high enough in the room to suspend a Lunar flier, but the plan is taking shape. A new safehouse is in order while Oskar empties and burns this one, then the Sentinels will interrogate the egos in the stacks. Linson may still collect his old body and get another but answers are more pressing. By the way, Thram, async abilities only work in a biological mind so Linson is currently paranormal-less (quasinormal?). He may want to swtich to synth permanently but you might not want him to. Decisions, decisions...Meanwhile, here's news and data for everyone...MuseNews for Eddy
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As the conversation continues, Jacques cuts in. ~Pardon, but zere is a new message from Monsieur Wu. I'll put it to the side...
Message from Sheng Qau Wu
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I am impressed, Nushi. You do have some important friends. I will, of course, pass along your regards to our mutual acquaintance. In the mean time, I have a cousin who can meet you in West Center to perhaps help you out. If I have any response from the Dragon Master of the Mountain, you will be the first to know.
~Sounds like he believes you, Jacques adds, ~but is being more careful also. He is used to misdirection, but we are being truthful, non? Well, as much as we can be.
He pauses, ~Oh, and zat reminds me. Ze board at Cognite has been rather busy. Zey announced today a project which will improve ze mesh in Martian cities over ze next few months. It seems impressive, but certainment a gamble. MuseNews for Linson
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Frank seems to accommodate to the new body stoically, as he accommodates to everything. He supplies Linson with a short summary of news items from his time "away:" a new contract up for bid on the investigation boards, news from a nanoecologist group with a plan to stabilize the Earth's atmosphere, and a fresh argument between the LLA and the Jovians about argonaut broadcast. Knowing that Linson likes to concentrate, Frank merely posts the feed to the side of his vision and waits for more prompting. MuseNews for Oskar
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~Cognite recommends isolation and freezing of any potentially infected data packets, Siv lets him know, ~They want to study and dissect more than fix. The muse's annoyance with Cognite is definitely showing through but that doesn't make her wrong. ~Firewall would probably recommend doing the interviews through a text interface with a flickerbox. You could easily downgrade an ecto to function as one.
She pauses and Oskar gets the impression of someone flipping through papers. ~Oh and that reminds me, Cognite is announcing some new project coming up that I thought you'd be interested in. They're going to upgrade mesh coverage in Martian cities with some new packet-code. Sounds technical and like the sort of thing that might flop but they're all excited. I've got other news if you're interested too... MuseNews for PsyTECH
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~Indeed I did, ma'am, Reginald answers with the pleased purr of a servant who is proud at his accomplishment. ~It was originally a Solaris counter-measures exploit program but has been modified from the, ahem, "off-the-shelf" version, probably by Miss Akimatsu-Cousteau. It seemed fairly sophisticated from my limited expertise.
The sound of a polite throat-clearing sounds in Psyra's mind before Reginald continues. ~I don't wish to alarm you either, ma'am, but to add to your plans there are a few news items I flagged for your attention. I would avoid mentioning your Extropian citizenship in Erato at the moment: the trade negotiations that have been in the media for some time have sparked protests in some locations there. If you and the team are considering leaving as well... Well it is unpleasant, ma'am, and I don't wish to leave you with a poor taste but there was an arrest this morning on the train line between Erato and Nectar. An AGI was accused of terrorism and hacking the train's AI controls. Of course her mere presence as an AGI was enough of a crime but these charges are being called "trumped up" and worse but... Well you understand my concern, ma'am.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 05, 2013 - 2:42PM
#355
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Linson began to help Oskar pack up his equipment, he'd spent long enough there himself to be familiar with the general nature of the gear. "I need to get my biological body back, and quickly, we could use some of my skills, but I also want to be around for the review of the stacks. Might want to link in using the Firewall encrypter while I go about my business. Nobody mind if I trade these synths for a new biologial sleeve? Yeah, yeah, I know Eddy. But the sooner I do this the better before the hunt starts, in fact it's urgent. They know I'm about anyway so it's no biggy that I'm assumed to be alive. Somebody wipped out their cell here." Linson finished with a grin. Muse
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Frank. Never access the investigation boards again directly. Set up a series of alter egos though various random locations and keep appraised of what's going on there third hand. But that source of work is now closed to us forever. We cannot be sure if any job isn't a dummy front to flush me out. "Hey, who's the net expert in this group? A new work ad's just come up on the investigator boards. A bit too convenient for my liking. Maybe someone could run a little seeker program in the background and see who's behind it, sneaky-like.""By the way Oskar, we were going to check if they'd copied me out. Let's do that before the last of the gear get's packed away. Finger's crossed and all that," Linson muttered ruefully.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 05, 2013 - 5:19PM
#356
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"It is probable that I can help with that," Psyra replies, "I'll free up my resources shortly. Meanwhile, does the correlation between the number of Lost egos recovered and the use of a Future morph not seem statistically likely to be relevant?""Also, my morph may need a little repair," she adds, seeming to take in for the first time the injuries she sustained in the firefight. Muse Chat
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~Analysis suggests we weren't prepared enough, Reginald. Some software like that is the highest priority on my list of things we're likely to need. PsyTECH, please deal with that~
~A simple task~ PsyTECH 2 replies.
Can I (by which I mean my fork) search for some basic exploit software? If necessary I can probably call in a favour or two.
Research 38 vs 80 (although I think I must still have a -10 for the Wound?).
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4 months ago ::
Feb 10, 2013 - 2:27AM
#357
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The servitor suddenly stops shuffling things around and instead moves towards Psyra. "If you just take a seat Psyra, Øystein, the servitor over there will prep you and that I can take a look at those injuries."Oskar then turns to Linson. "I'll take a look and see if I can find any signs of it, fingers crossed indeed." Oskar seems more happy now that he's got something to do. Not sure what kind of checks I would need for these two operations. As long as it's not Psuchosurgery, I can help I hope...
Muse
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"Thank you for the advice Siv, I'll relay it. And I'm always interested in news like that, so keep it coming. Oh, and if you could find out some more about that Cognite project, I'd appreciate it. Always good to keep an eye on what those guys are up to..."
"After digging through some Firewall procedures we found some guidelines for interrogating recovered stacks like these. They indicate using a text interface through a flickerbox, I'm sure I can conjure one up..."
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4 months ago ::
Feb 12, 2013 - 5:33AM
#358
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Date Joined:
Dec 12, 2003
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With Oskar's gesture, a small creeperbot scurries forward, waving flexible appendages with diagnostic and nanomedicine tools on the end. It looks like a bizarre, cyberpunk crab but at least a helpful one and the injury from the fight is starting to throb enough that even Psyra's emotional detachment can't ignore it. @Thramzorean
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~I can do that, Frank replies in a neutral tone. ~Do you want me to wait for you to access? Or should I still let you know what is going on. The muse's deep barritone is, as always, straightforward and to the point. Other people, Linson's heard, have muse's with simulated emotions but Frank either can't be bothered or thinks that would annoy the man. The result is reassuringly detached, more like the familiar program it is than a long-term friend. The_Fred
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The PsyTECH fork fairly quickly finds a listing for some exploit software, though such software is considered illegal in some areas. She can get it off a torrent site but waiting until the group is not in the safehouse is probably a better option for that. Of course, if she wants superior exoloit software she would have to pay more, by as much as an order of magnitude, or modify the program herself. @shanizar
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The easiest way to check would be to use Psychosurgery to check for indicators in his brainscan, but you can also look at the cortical stack itself with an Interfacing check (at -10 for the difficulty). As the group goes about some final preparations, getting ready to scrub this safehouse and move on to investigate the stacks, there is a sharp tapping noise. It cuts through the conversation like a knife, like a keen reminder of why they need to hurry. Someone is tapping on the apartment door. Alright, that will have to be a cliffhanger for a bit, though definitely post your reactions. I have to put my games on hold for about a week due to some real life stuff. The next time I promise an update is around the 23rd. Dun dun duuuuun!
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4 months ago ::
Feb 12, 2013 - 6:51AM
#359
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Not sure how much of this I get done before the knock on the door. It might be important to know if I have started surgery on Psyra or not 
Not knowing much about Psychosurgery, Oskar uses his skills with computers and implants instead to find signs of copying in Linson's cortial stack. He quickly browses through the contents of stack, hoping that his instincts will alert him to anything out of the ordinary.
Interfacing (1d100=59) vs 80 (70-10+20pat.rec.)
Using instinct sleighs to perform the action more quickly (90% reduction in time). After getting started on Linson's cortial stack, Oskar forks that task over to his multitasking implant as he moves to Psyra.
Medicine: Trauma Surgery (1d100=88) vs 100 (skill:60 +30 Nanomedicine, +30 Implant Surgery, +20 Wrist mounted tools, -40 rush)
Wohoo, critical success. Hopefully instinct sleigh will reduce the time by another 30% as the task should include some planning/analysis.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 12, 2013 - 8:08AM
#360
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Date Joined:
Oct 14, 2004
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Standing with his gun in hand and pointed at the door the very moment the taping begins, Tak messages on their tac-net ~Was anyone expecting guests?~He casts about for viable escape routes, should they be necessary. Perception, aural using his echo location again. Skill 90 - 1d100=46I think Tak might be an insane martian gun wielding Daredevil.
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