Author Topic: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday  (Read 18422 times)

Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #60 on: October 24, 2013, 03:29:36 AM »
"Figuratively. Immune to bullets and all." Kiley turns around to lie on her back with limbs stretched out in all directions and pulls off the scarf around her face. "The thinker was kind of just there and being annoying, but didn't really do anything. They've got some kind of miniature sun experiment or something still running in there with nobody supervising, though. And guess which lucky gal walked face first into it." She waves a little with one hand.

After a short pause, she picks up the tub of chocolate ice cream and shows it to Sam, still lying where she is. "Ice cream?"
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #61 on: October 24, 2013, 01:48:51 PM »
Sam's face lights up. "Yes, please. Oh, that's right, I snagged this on my way out." He nudges the small safe with his foot, gently kicking it so that it drifts through the air over toward Kiley. "Got in more or less unscathed, but I guess I made a little too much noise and someone started shouting in my head. Thinker-blaster, maybe. Sound-based powers, and good ones too. Knocked me for a loop before I convinced him I was just a dumb kid fooling around and made off with that safe. Good news is I found the Sigma offices, and there are two that look kind of promising. Didn't have a chance to look closer though. Feel like taking a look inside?"
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Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #62 on: October 24, 2013, 07:07:17 PM »
Kiley sets the ice cream down on the floor somewhere between herself and Sam and catches the safe with her now free hand. While her fingers pass through the safe, she also drops the dictionary-sized binder in Sam's direction before pulling her hand out of the safe to see what it's got.
"Oh, yeah. Got you some light reading, too."
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Offline veekie

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #63 on: October 24, 2013, 07:15:06 PM »
Kiley's hands close on the contents as the now emptied safe clatters to the floor, a neatly folded cloth package now in hand. Unwrapping it, she found an unmarked disc, a blue plastic card, a red plastic card and what looks like a key, though most keys aren't made of ceramic, or have tiny metal contacts along the teeth.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #64 on: October 25, 2013, 11:47:40 AM »
Sam catches the binder, scooting the ice cream closer with one foot and popping it open with his free hand. He leaves the binder floating in mid-air, leafing through it with intense curiosity.

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« Last Edit: October 26, 2013, 09:17:01 AM by Bozwevial »
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Offline veekie

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #65 on: October 26, 2013, 10:15:01 AM »
The binder is well organized at least, though the language is entirely focused on operations rather than what the things actually do, or why they work. Ignoring the rest of the rather meaty binder to focus on the one machine they could positively identify, Sam could identify five main processes for XFM-0042:

-Initiation, an extremely long and complex process that looks like it'd take several days to run through at the least. This seems to be the primary startup, and probably why they left it running, it'd require a crew of specialized staff working around the clock to start the reaction at least.

-Shutdown, a much much shorter process, this basically involves a gradual stepping down of the power, allowing the 'vortex' to dissipate as the containment field becomes intentionally leaky. The binder recommends taking more than an hour to shut down, but with an absolute minimum of fifteen minutes. Anything less may have catastrophic results.

-Broadcast, this process appears to be simple enough,  requiring four values to be input to specify some aspect of the transmission, evacuating the test chamber of air and a very large surge of power. How you figure out the values isn't listed however, though all other details are supplied.

-Tuning, this process references the broadcast values and mentions calibrating the paired device, XFD-0042, as well as how to connect it to a receiver and a number of safety precautions, particularly with avoiding exposed ferrous metals within five meters of XFD-0042.

-Emergency shutdown, this simply explains how to open the rooftop hatch of the test chamber and the order in which power should be cut off to various parts of the apparatus. It's attached to an evacuation plan of the building and a sticky note that simply lists a 25 character password.

Expanding the reading to at least hit the highlights of the binder, most of the devices described are for various forms of wireless power transmission, or sending messages through a power transmission without losing function. The X-series however, strongly imply that they make use of the unusual properties of Distortions to 'cheat' their way through physical limitations.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #66 on: October 26, 2013, 10:28:35 AM »
Eventually, Sam swats the book away, rubbing his forehead with a wince. Sifting through all the jargon had done a number on his already-battered brain. "Good news, you survived walking in on a wireless, transdimensional power transmitter. Also the bad news, because we probably don't want to leave that thing running...there's a shutdown procedure which takes a long time and an emergency shutdown with a password and an evacuation plan, but bleh." He leans over to take a look at the safe's contents. "Key cards, a CD, and...huh. That's weird. I guess they really don't want someone picking the lock?"
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Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #67 on: October 26, 2013, 01:11:05 PM »
"What if we just trip the breakers? I thought I read something about it going into emergency shutdown by itself with the backup power." Kiley plays around with the disk, spinning it around her index finger. "Makes me think of movies. You know, where two people have to plug in their key card at the same time and then hit another switch?"
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #68 on: October 26, 2013, 02:20:55 PM »
"More like if power fails you should immediately do the emergency shutdown and run. You skip the shutdown, you might not have anywhere to run to." Sam shrugs. "So let's not cut the power, I think." He scoops up the key cards idly, tapping them against his fingers. "It does kind of sound like one of those...I didn't get a chance to check out the offices when I went looking because that's when the other guy showed up."
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Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #69 on: October 26, 2013, 06:06:17 PM »
"...Oh. Good thing I changed my mind about that, then." Kiley smiles nervously. "So did this sound controller fuck with your senses or do you figure it's just shock waves and stuff? If it's the latter I could run circles around him."
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #70 on: October 26, 2013, 06:10:40 PM »
"I never saw the guy, but all he did was make a lot of noise. He let me go when he thought I was going to fall and break my neck, so I think if he had a better way of disabling me he'd have taken it." Sam looks a little sheepish. "I think you'd probably have a lot more luck than I did...I broke a window pane on my way in and had to force a door open when I couldn't find the key, which is probably how he caught me in the first place."
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Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #71 on: October 26, 2013, 06:36:21 PM »
Kiley snickers a little. "Well, we were going to hit the places together after checking them out anyway, so let's just do that. You can punt me into the building and I can give you an entrance that doesn't make tons of noise. And at the lab, there was a whole locker of security tapes that we could probably pawn off. I'd have to bring a trunk and a friendly neighborhood gravity manipulator."
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #72 on: October 27, 2013, 11:26:16 AM »
Sam grins. "Now where would you find one of those, I wonder?" He floats the tub of ice cream back over in Kiley's direction. "I guess we can do preparations tomorrow and then hit them both Tuesday night?"
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Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #73 on: October 29, 2013, 03:17:39 PM »
"Sure." Kiley catches the ice cream and spins it on her finger until its gravity sets back in and she sets it down. "I could use the day off, anyway. Ooh, and while we're there we can see if there's anywhere these slot into." She wraps the CD and the keys, card or otherwise, up again and puts them back in the safe.
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #74 on: October 31, 2013, 02:23:03 PM »
"We can find a computer somewhere to check that CD out. Probably have to do a little breaking and entering so no one can trace us, but that won't be hard." Sam stretches, reaching over to grab the binder out of midair and set it down neatly on top of the safe.
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Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #75 on: November 03, 2013, 07:32:40 PM »
"Sure. I could get into the next best house and just use the computer there. Or do you have something else in mind? School computers would be easier, but also kind of risky..."
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Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #76 on: November 03, 2013, 07:35:14 PM »
"Well, we want something where we can't be traced, right? So either a really secure computer, one that's public enough that no one would be able to finger us, or something that would most likely cast blame on other people. So I think if we just hit up a few unattended homes, we could find a computer no problem."
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Offline veekie

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #77 on: November 03, 2013, 08:02:14 PM »
With that, Horizon and Kaleidoscope head out again, the rain still pouring down in a steady drizzle. A few false starts(and startled people) later they found a computer in a second floor bedroom, with whoever lives there out for the day and unlikely to be back soon with the rain hammering down. The place is impeccably tidy, if gloomy, though there is a strange smell in the air. A number of 'news' clippings about the paranormal are stuck to a wall, along with shelved books on the occult.

The disc meanwhile, is fairly sparse, with one enormous file turning out to be total gibberish, with the only other contents being what looks like a press release presentation and a rather obtuse document on the properties of Distortions. The presentation seems to be on a new high capacity wireless power transmission system, with great emphasis on the possibilities now that electricity can be transmitted over long distances in a totally secure manner, safe from theft and interruption that wired networks face.
Everything is edible. Just that there are things only edible once per lifetime.
It's a god-eat-god world.

Procrastination is the thief of time; Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves; The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

Offline Bozwevial

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #78 on: November 04, 2013, 02:59:43 PM »
"That file's encrypted, I guess." Horizon sighs. "It's probably still valuable to someone who can read it, but that'll make it a little harder to find a buyer...Still, the press release proves we were right. This is a huge announcement if they can actually follow through on it, and that transmitter you found makes me think they probably can."
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Offline Agita

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Re: 2000/01/02 - Stinging Sunday
« Reply #79 on: November 10, 2013, 09:51:32 AM »
"Well, that's not too surprising. More or less what we knew already, then." Kaleidoscope casts a look around the room and picks a few rows of the shelf at random, swapping the first and last book of each letter in those. She snickers a bit. "So plan's unchanged, I guess. Nothing much new that matters to us. So Tuesday as planned?"
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