IF YOU'RE PLAYING IN THIS GAME, DON'T READ THIS!
(This goes for Judd, John Moore, Vince, Mike, and anybody else who has
played or might play... Go read the Albatross logs!)
[Back to Gaming War Stories page]
[Back to November]
Get to Calder around the 7th of December. Freak out about the Artemis System
Defense thing -- we can't spot it, but it's giving off power like nobody's
business, it scanned us in the midst of this sensor-jamming mess, and some
of the scans IT did aren't stuff that *we* have a clue about! Jim wanders
around the area. (Jim mentioned earlier, when I was wanting to tear his
ears off, that he had some kind of Maintainence PW for my computer that
Selene Holmes had given him -- I get Kelly to take a pass through, discover
it's some file on his computer, and he doesn't know what it will do. Damn.)
He's supposed to be some sort of accountant, or gov. official type, here,
it seems.
Mail is in the buffer for me -- I already turned off my computer when I
radscanned it and found it was talking to something of his (something that
the Artemis Holmes gave him, it turns out) and shoved it in the shielded
Hedoni compartment. I convince him to take the batteries out of that thing
so it can't suck anything more from my computer (what would I do if I thought
that the security had been compromised? Pull every file created or modified
after the failed attempts... Like my personal log, and some of the incoming
mail!), and bring the computer out. The mail goes out of the buffer. It
doesn't appear again! Ulcer time. It's "eating" my mail, till
it gets the word that it's not "stolen"???? Right. No telling
what this Occident person (looked him up by trying to call Sherinford {"If
it's urgent, contact James Occident"} -- that's his real name, James
"Jim" Occident -- the one on his Intelligence Agency card...)
will tell the Pres. Cry, stare at walls... I can't get NovaTech if I'm just
Silver, and I can't even live as Silver unless I can get my mail! If Artemis'
SH is blocking my mail...I might as well go over his head -- I'm dead anyway
when he reports, and I don't think that hiding will win me any brownie points.
If I'm going to be in trouble, I might as well get it over with quickly.
Pick one of the Byte Email accounts -- the one I know as Quicksilver's,
since that probably won't have any names attached to it.
To Selene Holmes, President of Artemis Enterprises.
"The computer Scherazade is paying for is not stolen; I just got the
passwords wrong once too many times, and forgot to send a note about it.
Sorry. --S.H."
Five minutes later. Reply.
"Come to Docking Ring 7, Berth 1, when you get to New Garavar Station.
--S.H."
Send back: "Will be there in two weeks, barring pirates."
Reply: "Acknowledged."
[[The GM is somewhat sad that I did this -- *he* wanted to *kidnap* Silver
for that interview!!]]
Trip back is not much fun... Nothing to distract me from impending doom,
my personas in shreds around me, house of cards in ruins...
Jim is confined to quarters except during meals -- the captain won't let
me carry a stunner, but he tells Dirk to keep alert. ('Bout the only reason
Jim got to come back with us is from the 10,000 creds he offered for us
to hang around...) I ask Jim how his numbers are doing -- "Fine."
"They're all adding up?" "Pretty much, I'm still working
on them." "Can I help?" "No." Wander off, saying,
"Gee, and he didn't even say I could help better in his room."
[[Jim is planting tracers on the appropriate crates, so the crystals can
be tracked to their eventual destination.]]
Such an irritating man. Wish I could just decide to ignore and avoid him,
but he *knows* things about my past! Damn near every time I talk to him,
I learn something... And he gets even more hints that something's wrong
with me... Stars, what *am* I going to do, even if I survive New Garavar
Station?
Staying off the pills for up to four days at a time, but had to stay in
the autodoc one day after a bout of that. Very sick Silver.
**Dec 13, 154**
Jim invites Kelly (who has been complaining of headaches and worse ever
since we brought the samples on board -- which are interfering with our
sensors, too) to go with him around New Garavar. Looks like she's probably
going to accept. Wunnerful. At least he's not going to try and make good
on his threat to "take me into custody". Show Kelly around New
Garavar... Riiiiight. Starting with a bar and ending with his bedroom, I'll
bet. Her call. She took out the KLF, she can probably take Jim out if he
gets too obnoxious.
I get a message from the Thral veep to Quicksilver-on-the-Albatross that
the job is no longer open, and "Word to the wise, don't watch the cargo
being unloaded too carefully." Right. Fine. Not my worry either way.
Get some messages -- one wants Scherazade to do a doc on a colony world
-- would take too long, even if I had the camera and stuff, which I don't.
Another inquiry for Hedoni. Consider ways to keep Harami active. Pretend
that I'm going to be alive after New Garavar Station. About the only thing
that gives me hope is *her* "--S.H." signature. If she's not irritated
enough to be standing on dignity.... Stars, Occident painted her as a bit
of a terror... She may have already gotten much/most/all of my personal
log... *Will* she have a fit that I gave her a false ID? *Is* Scherazade
a false ID? For all I know, *she's* the real one.
**Dec 15, 154, ship evening
The Station won't let us in -- tell us to stand away out of system till
a Patrol ship can come out and look us over. I go and turn off the Hedoni
trunk. Patrol fellow comes on board, traces the interference to the samples,
and says "Oh, more of *those*" in tones of disgust. We are then
allowed to come in and dock.
Station...
Kelly and Jim wander off together... I hope he doesn't dump her for someone
prettier -- that might be a bad idea... Cause a tad of property damage,
p'haps. At the least, he'd probably fall asleep on his feet, just like the
KLF.
[[Jim did -- Kelly dumped his drink down his front, telekinetically, then
went back to the ship, grinning.]]
At least I've got the bug I put in his room back from him.
Take my trunk over to the Pilot's Guild and leave it there for a while --
don't want the Bug messing with it, and I don't know what's going to happen
after today... Pick up the latest gossip -- I haven't been here in a while,
I'm told, and "Big Ben" is still looking for me. "Oh great,
*still*? Why?!" Good thing I'm not looking for a job -- business is
slow; especially with the scout-pilots. Seems Artemis has been putting out
fast AI probe-ships (who are real hard to hit when people take pot-shots
at them) who have *real* good sensors -- better, or longer range, or something.
And they're cheaper than humans... Oh, well, maybe they could talk to her,
or bribe her, and get Artemis to take one half of the galaxy and leave the
other half to the humans. Either that, or start lobbying for higher pay
for AIs so that they become less economical.
Put trunk in the locker room at the Guild. Get the computer out, empty the
biosuit pockets completely, except for a couple of pills. *Especially* empty
out the needler! Throwing oneself upon someone's mercy with a holdout weapon
in one's pocket is just a tad dubious -- I remember the scans that "system
defense" thing was doing on us! IDs are all still in belt. Keep the
sonic probe, keep the stunner that the Captain let me have when he turned
us all loose. Lock up the chest (including the alarm-lock that I canabilized
the security circuits in the NovaTech flight recorder to make). Go down
to docking ring 7, keeping an eye out for anyone who looks like a "Big
Ben" and watching out for Sparrials. Wearing the Quicksilver outfit
-- might as well look nice before the execution...
Before I get there, check and see who's supposed to be in berth 1 -- find
out it "belongs" to Artemis. There's a ship docked there, but
no names. Go up, stand there for a while gathering courage, press the door-button.
Pleasent female voice, asking who's there. Speechless. Open my mouth, but
there's no right answer here! No good answer. "Uh..." Voice: "Ah,
Pilot Hawke. You're expected. Enter."
Door opens (no air-lock, just a fairly expensive forcelock), I walk in --
into a solid whiteness! Hard to see the floor, the ceiling, the walls apart!
Could be a narrow corridor, could be wide as the KLF. Shining white, like
the inside of a sunlit cloud! Touch a wall -- it's solid, and I don't seem
to be leaving gobs of fingerprints on it.
From around the corner -- which I couldn't even see until now! -- walks
a dark-haired woman in a blue biosuit with a silver Artemis logo on it.
She's quite good-looking -- she'd attract as much attention in a bar as
me.
"Ms. Holmes is expecting you. Please follow me," she says. I follow,
taking care at the corner -- I could walk into a wall in this place, easy!
"Kind of difficult to navigate in here," I say. "I don't
have any problem," she replies. "That's good," I squeak.
We get to a door. "You may go in now," the woman says -- and vanishes
in a cloud of sparks! Holographic projection, and I didn't even notice!
"Impressive!" I say, looking quite impressed, I'm sure.
Take a breath, calm the mind...
Door opens into -- space! With a desk in the middle, just floating, and
a person wearing white behind it -- must be more holographic, the stars
at least. Step in, walking on empty space as far as I can see. Scene to
touch a pilot's heart and soul, that's for sure. Graphs, computer notes,
projected flight paths -- those all seem to be overlaid on the star-map
walls as well. The woman must be the Pres. Selene Holmes -- she's wearing
some kind of silvered sunglasses, unlike in the Artemis promo I got, but
the skin and hair and outfit are the same. And there can't be *that* many
"unique" humans wandering around.
There seem to be "blacked-out" areas in the room that are vaguely
furniture shaped, but I'm not going to risk tripping over something and
bothering Her and looking clumsy. Stars, how can one not admire somebody
with this sense of style in decor?
Ms. Holmes finishes, looks in my direction. "Come sit down, Ms. Hawke,"
She says. Make my way to the chair-shaped spot, sit down. About now the
star-map decor vanishes and the place turns into a posh office area. Look
about with a touch of regret.
[[[Random snippits as I recall them, in no particular order -- ASH means
Artemis SH: Selene.]]]
ASH: "Ms. Holmes, Hawke -- what *do* I call you?"
SH, looking at biosuit: "Silver, I guess." {shrug}
=-
ASH: "Ah, that's right. You don't know who you are, do you?"
SH: "Not really."
=-
ASH: "I never realized that Scherazade and Sherinford were the same."
SH, blinking: "Mm?"
ASH: "Of course, I never met Sherinford -- Jim mentioned her to me
because of the similarity in names."
=-
ASH: "The Sherinford ID is fake -- it's my great great great grandfather's
name."
SH, shrugging: "I'm not responsible for the names that my parents might
have given me."
ASH, consulting implant: "No-one by that name in the family tree..."
Consults again. "Genetic reading indicates that the closest relation
would be at least three generations back."
=-
ASH: "Can I see your ID cards?"
SH: {nods and digs cards out from behind her back}
ASH: "Quite a house of cards you've got here."
SH: "Yes, I know."
=-
[[ Selene consults her implant comm, and says in a pleased/amused tone,
"Oh, that's clever!" After a moment, SH can't stand the suspense
and asks, "What?" It seems, Selene explains, that somehow SH managed
to get her "gene hash" (a "shorthand" compression of
a full genetic scan) to be the "default" for *all* gene hashes!
Either she was born lucky, genetically engineered to fit, or managed to
bribe someone -- she's not good enough with computers to have done it herself.
What this means is that she can impersonate *any* human so long as a person
of that name exists, and no tests besides comparing gene hashes is done.]]
=-
ASH: "Some of them are real people -- you can't be Sarah
Hart..."
SH, wryly: "Or Sydney Hill."
ASH: "Mm. No, you're missing a Y chromosone and have an extra X."
=-
ASH: "It would seem that you've been playing a sort of shellgame, and
you haven't been caught because no-one's been able to figure out which shell
the pea is under."
=-
SH: "So, will you stop the computer from eating my mail?"
ASH: "Eating your mail? It's not supposed to be doing that..."
SH: "There was mail in the buffer, but it never showed on the computer."
ASH: "Oh -- that wasn't mail to you."
SH: "You sent mail to my computer?"
ASH: "I ran a diagnostic on it -- I thought the persona lock might
have been malfunctioning."
SH: "It wasn't."
ASH: "Yes, that was what was so puzzling."
=-
ASH: "Hold still for a scan."
SH: {holding breath}
ASH: "You've been mindwiped recently, haven't you."
SH: "Yes -- I didn't think it was drug-induced..."
ASH: "No, there's all the neuralogical signs -- it was complete?"
SH, bleakly: "Yes."
=-
ASH: "Brainwiping, except for when the government does it after a fair
trial and sentencing, or by special agreement, *is* illegal."
SH: "I'm hardly in a position to press charges."
=-
SH: "I'm hardly a real person."
ASH: "You're real. You're human to the 99.999th percent. You have some
strange joint-structures, though, and odd neural connections..."
SH: "Mm. I *am* a good pilot -- I can find my way places, know where
I am, even in space."
ASH: "That could account for it. Those could be engineered, but mutations
can crop up in the general population normally." [[___at the time this
game was done, I (Walter [the GM]) didn't know Selene's father had 3D Spatial
Sense, though I *did* know Selene's
sister had it, probably accounting for the "mutations" comment.]]
SH: {carefully not saying anything to the albino in front of her}
=-
SH: "You're reading my personal log?"
ASH: "I've *read* your personal log -- I don't have to do it again!"
SH, considering her ability to find her way out of twisty mazes: "Hm.
Okay."
=-
[ASH finally mentions that Byte occasionally wipes its employees partially.
Also mentions that, while it *is* possible to merge braintapes, the 'tapes
in question must be very similar -- SH's current state of mind couldn't
be meshed with all her old memories.]
=-
SH: "I should stop wasting your time..."
ASH: "It's more interesting than what I'm supposed to be doing... Dealing
with banks and clients -- this is no life for an engineer."
=-
ASH: "What *does* Kelly do?"
SH: "Well, she took out the KLF once..."
ASH: "Do you know how?"
SH: "No... I was hiding behind a corner at the time..."
ASH: "Understandable; he *is* intimidating."
=-
ASH: "NovaTech's been very interested in the crystals -- they've made
several attempts to acquire them through roundabout sources. As I believe
you're aware -- Quicksilver."
SH: "NovaTech... I'm very glad I didn't take the job."
ASH: "It would have been unwise."
SH: "I didn't know that then -- just thinking about all those zeros..."
ASH: "The Organization can pay well, when they're being paid well."
=-
SH: "I take it NovaTech didn't get its samples?"
ASH: "They got them."
SH: "Are they going to be happy with them?"
ASH, smiling: "For a while."
=-
ASH: "Oh, yes, the voice in your head -- how *did* you do that?"
SH, thinking hard: "Mm, it's a trade secret?"
ASH: "The only way I know of, you'd have to have access to the equipment..."
SH: "Why do you want to know?"
ASH: "I'm interested in brainwipe/braintape technology."
SH: "Mm. I'd rather not say -- if I got caught again, I'd like to still
have my 'out'."
=-
SH: "So... You're not going to take my cards away?"
ASH: "Why would I want to do that?"
SH: "You're not going to turn me over to the authorities?"
ASH: "No -- they leave me alone, and I leave them alone."
SH, relieved: "A most -- *admirable* arrangement."
ASH: "Apparently quite fortunate for them..."
SH: "Oh?"
ASH: "Never mind -- it's a long story."
=-
ASH: "This one, Si-mone Hospi-tal-yer?"
SH: "Hospitalier."
ASH: "There are records six months prior to the earliest of any of
the others -- she was moving in high social circles, referred to as 'enigmatic
and mysterious.' She doesn't seem to have had any job then, not a stockholder,
no source of income..."
SH: "Wealthy daughter?"
ASH: "No... There hasn't been anyone with that name born for 200 years."
SH, looking at card: "Mm. I rather doubt she's a time-traveler."
ASH {pause}: "No, not cryogenically."
=-
ASH: "A dangerous game you've been playing, with Silver, Scherazade,
Sherinford, and Shannon
--"
SH: "Shannon?"
ASH: "Oh, that's right, you don't know about her. It would seem she
has links with the Organization -- she might be a freelancer... She's an
assassin."
SH, resigned/shocked: "Oh. I was wondering when that was going to show
up on the resume."
=-
SH: "Her [[Sherinford's]] office is being watched by the Organization."
ASH: "That would be expensive in man-power... Let's see. What are the
coordinates? Ah."
SH: {mutter} "Are we moving?"
ASH: "I'm just doing a scan."
{Wall blanks out, scans of every concievable thing to scan in appear. Building
is built up layer by layer. Scanning of this amount of detail shouldn't
be possible from orbit.}
ASH: "Yes -- there's a camera on the roof of the building across the
street, there's a gene-scanner in the door, and a bug in the office itself."
=-
SH, referring to the Calder cargo: "You can compensate for the effect
on the sensors? You could have told the poor cargo-ships about that..."
ASH: "They would have had to buy my sensors, which are rather expensive."
SH: "Ah -- I can see how that would be a problem."
=-
[[Again, referring to Artemis Enterprises sensors]]
ASH: "They're the best available in the sector."
SH, admiringly: "I sure haven't seen anything better."
ASH, muttering: "I have."
SH: "Huh? But..."
ASH: "Never mind, it's a long story."
=-
SH: "You have the sensors -- do you also have the, ah, reverse of those?"
ASH: "*That* technology isn't for sale."
=-
ASH: "Silver's been banned from Thral -- something about Aerial Evasion
Maneuvers."
SH: "What did I do??"
ASH: "Allegedly sent a Thral Patrol ship crashing into a sky-scraper."
SH: "Oh, I hope so -- I'd hate to be blamed for something I didn't
do. I'd have to correct the impression, otherwise..."
=-
ASH: "I'd advise you to stay out of sight."
=-
SH: "How many levels does this computer *have*, anyway?!"
ASH: "Three -- the top level, the trap layer, and the secure layer."
SH: "Trap layer?"
ASH: "Yes, it's relatively easy to break into, but it doesn't have
any really important information on it." Somewhat chiding tone of voice
-- the personal log was on that level.
SH: "*sigh* It was the most secure level I could get to."
ASH: "Yes -- how *did* you find out about the third layer? It's not
supposed to be easy to find!"
SH: "It's not? I just asked how to change the icon, and it told me
I needed to be in Chameleon Mode."
ASH, consulting implant: "It shouldn't have done that... Oh. Damn bugs.
There. It's fixed now. It won't do that anymore."
=-
ASH: "I've been selling sensors nearly as good as mine to the Patrol."
SH: "I see Silver's going to have to go legitimate."
ASH: "They don't fly any better -- they just see more."
SH: "I'd rather be able to slip in and out without being seen."
=-
ASH: "Oh, be careful walking through gene-scanners, if they use the
New Garavaran hash rather than a full genetic scan -- it could be somewhat
difficult to explain why you read as a forty-three year old, fat, balding
man..."
SH, grinning: "One heck of a bodysculpt job? Right. So *that's* what
that's for..."
ASH: "The distort belt? Crude."
SH: "Oh? How so?"
ASH: "Those block everything -- hard to explain why someone just saw
you walk by when the scanners didn't pick up anything."
SH: "I guess one just has to distract the person from looking at the
scanner...."
ASH: "I hadn't thought of that. Easier to just have the belt broadcast
something else."
SH: "You can *do* that?"
ASH: "Of course."
SH, thinking of how much she'd like that sort of a gizmo: "You're a
dangerous person."
ASH: "Me?"
SH: "Dangerous to my bank account."
ASH: "Yes, lots of people tell me that."
=-
SH: "Those computer disks that NovaTech . . . misplaced..."
ASH: "That's an interesting term for it!"
SH: "Well, they *were* in the wrong place at the wrong time."
ASH: "While I could not deal with stolen property, if you had some
disks and you neglected to mention where they came from, I might be able
to scan them for files the size of a braintape."
SH: "Of course -- I'll just bring some random disks by, you know how
disks are, collecting under chairs like video game tokens... If they're
not interesting, well, I'm sure blank disks are always useful."
ASH: "They'd probably be obsolete around here, actually..."
=-
ASH: "There's no problem moving the accounts -- I'll just file the
appropriate papers with {slight pause} InStelCom."
SH: {wince}
=-
=-=-=-=-
In summary: 'Twas a *much* less worrisome experience than I'd feared --
I was afraid I'd have to beg and grovel and offer my abilities from hot
pilot down to distractor-for-Jim (her ladyship read as pure het to me) to
escape with anything of my existance intact. Instead, I've switched the
blind credit and Email account from Byte to Artemis where it will be rather
a bit cheaper; I've learned *quite* a lot -- like how I manage to pass such
phony IDs as the Sarah Hart one without getting caught; where the bugs are
in Sherinford's office's vicinity; that Artemis has been selling *very*
sophisticated sensors to the Patrol, and keeping better ones *and* the cloaking
tech for Herself; that *NovaTech* was the ultimate recipient for those crystals
the Thral fella wanted me to transport; that the shuttle I wandered off
with was reported missing in a pirate raid -- near Irar; and that there
were at least *25* different braintapes on the disks I gave Selene!!! There
weren't that many people in the station! (The Clone Research Station...
But they didn't seem to be doing much *clone* research...) Dear stars...
And that was only a random collection of disks from that drawer! Some of
the disks had more than one tape on them -- as many as four. Also some smaller
files.
I managed to say something about how stealing from Artemis would be quite
impossible -- "That would be unwise" I get in chorus from both
Her and the woman in blue, who reappears in a shower of sparks and holding
a blaster. Me: "A blaster?" Holmes: "I know you're bored,
Diana, so am
I." I take my leave hurriedly.
On the way back to Artemis, I ran into "Big Ben" who insisted
that I owed all 6 drooling feet (length and width both...) of him a drink.
That I'd promised him a drink the next time I was on the station. A huge
docker like this... Argh! I shouldn't be in a hurry, this fellow thinks,
I should have a drink with him before running my errand. Finally I tell
him he can tag along and I lope off.
Press the button again -- "Silver Hawke here with the disks."
Door opens after a moment -- Diana. She holds out her hand. Ooooookaaaay
-- hand her the disks: clink, like metal, not flesh... Big Ben is drooling
at her now. Spotting a good opportunity, I say, "Why don't you ask
*her* to have a drink with you?" and lope off, hoping to lose him in
the moment of confusion before the door closes... He stays behind, saying,
"Hey, I haven't seen you around before." I slow at the corner
and hear *Diana* saying, "I haven't seen you around before either,
big guy. Why don't you come in and have a drink?" The last I hear is
a THUD and scream.... I head back to take my trunk back to the Albatross,
whistling. Life is good.
**Dec 16, 154**
Sent thank-you note to Diana.
Simone is the only persona who doesn't have a personality profile, just
notes of where she was, where she'd said she was, what she said she was
doing. Either this personality is near enough to "the original"
that I didn't feel the need to make notes, or it's just because it's the
oldest and was second nature for a while... Maybe it *is* the "real"
me, and I *am* some kind of time-traveller! Could I be some sort of genetically
engineered spy? Simone as my cover? Someone's escaped illegitimate clone?
She's the oldest by six months, according to the White Goddess of Information.
Scherazade is the next one. Simone predates the ShadowHawk, Scherazade is
contemparary with the first appearence. I need to pull the news files for
most of my appearances there... Pity I can't ask Her Holmesness for the
files that She obviously was accessing, but I don't think it would be a
good idea for a small-person like me to bother Her, and I couldn't afford
Her price, I suspect.
If I'm going to be Silver for a while, and Silver looks like the best person
to be for a while, I'll have to check out what exactly Silver *did* on Thral
to get banned, what she's wanted for, etc. (Unauthorized acrobatics -- wait
about three years till the statute of limitations runs out; Thrals like
that sort of thing, but the police {who don't like being made to look stupid}
might rough me up a little. There's a note about avoiding New Garavar because
of "Big Ben" -- "Won't take 'no' for an answer, even when
applied forcefully.")
Add in locations of the bugs around Sherinford's office, the incident with
"Big Ben" and Diana.
Pity I didn't keep a diary (before) or something like a scrapbook.
**Dec 19, 154**
Got a note from Her today: "I thought the name rang a bell -- have
a look at these." And a pointer to some *old* Old Earth texts and flat-screen
movies about one "Simon Templar." A thief who robs from "The
Ungodly" (other criminals), helps out his friends and tends to stumble
across the most implausible plots in the process, has another "S.T."
alias, and who generally gets into a lot of trouble. Sometimes called himself
"The Saint" and doodled a little stick-figure with a halo... Strange
fellow, but I like the attitude. Hated by police *everywhere* on the planet,
just about, but they never could catch him. (No gene-scanners in his day.)
Obviously a role-model for my predecessor -- why else would Simone be the
first?
Send a somewhat faint and boggled "Thank you -- *very* interesting"
note back to Her.
**Dec 20, 154**
[[Around here, Selene contacts Parvari, offering to purchase the "salvage
rights" to the downed NovaTech shuttle for about 100,000. Since NovaTech
has enough lawyers to ensure that someone like Parvari never saw any cash
from it, the captain agrees and gives the codes to the beacon to Selene.]]
[[SH has, on her computer, a small, nameless icon, looks sort of angelic-stick-figure.
Opening it produces a larger version of the crude drawing. But... The file
is too large for such a crude drawing! After trying "Open file Angel,"
she goes to the thesauris. Seraphim (SerapHim?) is the key -- that was the
master PW for the rest of the computer, in fact). And she gets a list, labled
"Ungodly."]]
Found my own "Ungodly" file -- names, some with checkmarks and
dates. Rather a lot of the checkmarks&dates correspond with the _Pathfinder_
raid! Some sort of Organization convention there -- links with . . . shady
biotech??? Look down list, NovaTech! Last on the list, mentions of people
-- bosses, governmental types, {ex-}competitors -- who had a run-in with
the Division Head [Vladimir Tscheya] of *that* station, number 2, coordinates
match) and *changed*. Either stopped being competitors, sold out, overlooked
NovaTech excesses, or turned their interests to biotech... And they didn't
meet with mister Division Head for very long, either, it seems. Fascinating.
Send Her a note: "How well do you trust the Email encryption on this
machine?" Quite a lot, if the highest level is used... Send Her the
appropriate excerpts and a note to "Take care, eh?" Reply that
NovaTech's not likely to be able to get at Her. Send: "Good -- be rather
unpleasant if someone unfriendly had all your knowledge." No response.
Oh, well -- I don't live in that ship, I only have a faint clue what sort
of defenses it's got. I just hope She's as secure as She obviously thinks
She is, and She *is* warned now.
(Found a little file on Her -- swift rise of Her business, within about
three years from nothing to small but profitable... Rumors linking Her to
broached security on Byte Swiss Data Accounts, which *stop* after some Byte
Corp board meeting. Stop dead, to be replaced by rumors that She'd *landed
undetected* on Byte (Sweet stars! What sort of stealth technology does Artemis
*have*??), and that either She'd done something that Byte was happy about,
since they're not doing anything to Her, or else She'd managed to blackmail
Byte. She and a Byte Core Security person spoke at a directors' meeting
type thing, and the records of that are sealed, but Dillings left the board
after that. I had some notions about him being suspicious, but apparently
She got to him before I could do anything. She got that ship, _Diana's Bow_,
after that, and then started up Artemis Enterprises. Waitaminute! What was
that She said -- the only way She knew about tampering with braintapes,
one had to have access to the equipment... Stars! There's *definitely* more
than meets the eye about that woman! Jim's implied, the files say, that
he's gotten some of his fake IDs through Her... That She isn't too concerned
with legalities, but has Her own sense of ethics/honor... Heh. One could
almost call Her "Mostly Harmless" except that She clearly isn't,
but She's not "Ungodly," as far as I could find out. That's relieving,
since my fate is, to a certain extent, in Her hands. A shuddersome thought.
She is *not* a controllable woman, and lacks the Y chromosome that might
increase my chances of survival if I should accidently cause Artemis some
irritation. And -- beyond mere survival, I kinda like Her style, I think.)
What if the director fellow is a "Witch" like Kelly? Hm. Interesting
notion. Not necessary, and certainly wouldn't work on Diana, but something
for *me* to watch for if we meet... Meet again? Wouldn't be surprised. Next
time, *he'll* be the one stunned from behind, to wake up pumped so full
of Crediline he'll be flying for a week!
I wonder if he was the one who decided to "dispense with the restraints"?
Yes, a jar of Crediline, some Soothe, and Kelly ought to do the trick on
him. "Not dangerous" my friggin' hospital gown.
(More info on NovaTech: They're "shady" in that the various divisions
are pretty much given free rein, and so long as they A: bring in money for
the company {if they skim that, okay, so long as they don't skim the Corp.'s
cash}, and B: don't get too much bad publicity. If someone gets caught,
or something is very unprofitable, then someone gets scapegoated. The big
exec.s -- a combination of old Ungodly and business-people {most like corp-raiders
and/or politicians} -- keep their hands clean.)
**Dec 21, 154**
Got a little request from Her -- She wanted to see the flight recorder that
I snarfed from the NovaTech shuttle. Ran it over (sans the stuff that I'd
used in my improvised alarm-lock for my trunk). She copied the information
-- 6 mo. old -- and said it was nothing interesting. She said someone had
been "poisoning the electrolytes" in the batteries... It *looked*
rather like a manufacturer's error. Lucky me, I get the flight recorder
back. I'd like to know why she wanted it, if not for the information --
she didn't sound too disappointed that there was nothing interesting on
it. Not mine to ask, just mine to run errands.
**Dec 23, 154**
Need to find a public library node and look up some of these names... Find
out which ones have the double meanings -- "Houri" indeed! (If
that's not what it sounds like...) And besides the Simone/Simon, I can't
see how She would be able to make the connection... Templar/Hospitalier?
I need to find the connection. And I apparently picked some sort of historical
figure for Sherinford -- either that, or Her ancestors read the same stuff
that I did, and liked the same sorts of names.
Ah -- Knights Hospitalier and Knights Templar, during some war or other
called the Crusades. Rival orders. Was Simon Templar not only a role model
but also a fine act to top? Sherinford -- alternate name for Sherlock Holmes,
ficticious MasterClass private detective, before the final draft was written.
Also shows up in some strange book with "Gilbert and Sullivan"
references... Also a real person a few generations back -- must've been
who She was referring to. Sheherazade/Scherazade as a storyteller, also
old old Old Earth literature, 1001 Arabian Nights. The Crusades had several
Arab references, too. Harami ... "Thief" in Arabic. Rubbing it
into people's noses, weren't we, Simone/Sandra? Salome
Houri... Houri is indeed yet another arabic word, for a kind of sensual
artist. Salome is a princess (?) of some sort, who danced to please a king
(her father-cousin) enough to win the head of some holy-man or other. (Not
the whole man, just his head on a platter.) Sadie
Hawkins -- from a truly ancient "comic strip"! Some sort of
primitive colonist, it seems... The only really amusing bit I get from "Hood"
(after paring it down to ficto-historical celebrities) is "Robin Hood"
who "robs from the rich to give to the poor." Thrilling. A "hood"
does seem to have some archaic reference to thief, again, though.
**Dec 24, 154**
Asked Parvari what he wanted for christmas -- "A sane crew." What,
I asked, not something he could unwrap? "A new pilot." I was hurt.
According to what *he's* heard, I was going inches above the pavement in
downtown Thralia at mach speeds, and *several* Thral Patrol ships went crashing.
I really must get around to getting that news-clipping. He accused my biosuit
of not being "real" clothing (okay, okay, so it *is* skin-tight...),
and I suggested that I could make it transparent -- "No! No! Don't
trouble yourself. Or anyone else..." *sigh* He complained about my
showing up on a stolen NovaTech shuttle -- but "at least they won't
be able to track it anymore." *sigh* I pointed out that it was Dirk
and I who rescued him, and he said that I'd get a bonus for it. "Oh?
What sort of bonus?" I asked him, and he said about 1000 credits, since
we were ahead on our payments for a change -- nothing's broken down in a
couple of months. I asked how often things broke down on this ship: "Too
often." I said I wanted a new ship. Parvari offered to give me a reference.
I asked if he *really* wanted me to leave. He wouldn't answer, said he was
in trouble either way. I wish I knew if he was serious. I'd leave if he
really wanted me gone -- much too dangerous to stay where I'm not wanted.
I really need to hear some of these stories that he's been hearing from
the other captains. Hm. I wonder if I could bug him?
The Ungodly file has a date of creation concurrent with the first appearence
of Simone. Hm. The autodoc said I was about 24, 25 years old... Did I run
away from home to be a chameleon? I certainly started this fairly early.
**Dec 25, 154**
Got a note from Her today -- a newsclipping saying that an Artemis Enterprises
ship, The Bat Out of Hell, found a NovaTech shuttle on a hostile waterworld
(methane and ammonia atmosphere) down near Irar, about where NovaTech'd
said they'd lost one.
Talk about "Merry Christmas."
Heh -- well, either they'll decide that "Sandra Houston" was connected
to Artemis, or else they'll decide that Artemis wants to twit them... Either
way, I'm likely to be unnoticed here on the Albatross, and if they *hadn't*
found the Albatross' beacon (and they haven't come a'looking for me yet,
that's certain), they won't *ever* find the link now!
[[It should be noted that the shuttle the Bat found, while it *did* still
have the engine damage, also had a functional and functioning emergency
beacon, computer core, and flight-recorder that had a "dead battery."
Supplied, of course, courtesy of Artemis, but NovaTech don't know that.
And, to make matters even more entertaining, Selene "scrubbed"
the shuttle of all traces of where it was before the hostile world. *And*
she also left the disks (with data corrupted) that SH swiped and gave to
Selene -- after all, she'd made copies.]]
Send Her mail: "Do you do miracles routinely?" Reply: "If
I have the time."
White Lady, do you know what I owe you, now for actions as before for inactions?
How does a Dancer on the Edge like me repay such debts, especially now that
I have stumbled and all but fallen?
**Dec 27, 154**
Parvari's happy today -- he sold off that keg of Humario booze for something
like 1000 creds. He sold it to *Flare*. "Everybody knows Flare,"
he says when I ask about who "Flare" is. I reply, "I don't
-- I'd even forgotten about those wretched pills, remember?" He looked
at me out of the corner of one eye. But I got the information. Flare is
a large red Kintaran male, who runs the "Lucky Star" which is
a bar, casino, pawnshop, and hair salon. Oh sweet stars... Parvari says
that Flare is a good person to know -- he has contacts. Sometimes he's got
a cargo. Parvari doesn't ask what it is, and doesn't say that what's being
shipped is Flare's; just that sometimes Flare has a cargo. I take the hint.
Stars, stars, stars... Oh, well. He must be a competent Kintaran, or else
I wouldn't have let him fence the stuff.
I really need to wander down there... I can't have ever met Flare face-to-nose,
I'd think, but Quicksilver might ought to know him. I *must* reestablish
my contacts. Simone was being supported by some other occupation -- either
her real self, or some lesser persona -- Silver makes the most money, and
I can keep an eye on Kelly here, so I think Silver shall be my base. When
Kelly gets tech-aware enough to haul off, I'll go hopping personas (which
I dare not do while anyone could connect 'em with Silver!) with her and
we'll go after that NovaTech Station Manager. Salome might be able to wrangle
a meeting with him... I need to either bug his computer and find the decryption
code there (and thus find if any of those braintapes that She has are mine),
or see if I can pull the information directly out of the wretch.
[On to Leap, the "party month" between
Xmas and New Year's]