((Dwarmin dropped out, as did cheesecake.
I kind of lost my progress on the last post due to a browser fail.))
Moravia Orbital Colony, Ulysses | 237d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Megacity Time: 8:40Alpha Lobby
Mobs (+1 Stealth)
'Team, gonna be tricky getting to the docking ring from where we are, but I can kill the lights to help with that. Everyone not near docking, who wants to meet up with me before lights out?'
There aren't any other obvious paths, which leaves you stumped for a moment. But you receive message over the comms from a voice you almost forgot about. It's that rat you brought along, the psychotic kleptomaniac who you were sure would cause the mission to fail if he wasn't kept under close watch. And as it turns out, he seems to be in a bit of trouble.
"Hey there, can you guys hear me? Toasty, could you gimme a hand? I'm in the airways below you. They're gonna use the vents to circulate sleep gas and I'd rather not be stuck in one, but it's my only hiding spot. I'm three levels down, you'll have to find a way through the maintenance pathways.You're not sure who he's referring to by "Toasty."
...
Headquarters, Floor 3
Professional Atmosphere (+1 Intellect)
Duck into that alcove, then, since there's not really another option (I'll think of something to say in the likely event Atlos gets noticed later)
Akatin leaps into cover before you, showing unnatural flexibility inside the pressure suit.
[1/4] You drive into cover, but it was mostly a pointless endeavor. The two humans comment on the noise they heard from your treads rubbing against the metal floor grate, and call you out as they approach.
Person 1: "Hey, who's in there?"
Person 2: "Don't make any sudden moves..."
Akatin freezes, perhaps in terror. Actually, he's putting on a pretty good impression of an empty suit lying against the wall.
Maintenance Shafts
Hidden (+1 Stealth)
Well, the situation seems to have gotten out of hand.
Observe the surroundings for any potential threats, then try to exit the situation.
You run a full diagnostic regression algorithm to decide on your prorities.
Unconscious suspects, potentially guilty of causing station-wide outbreak: Human concept of "justice" insignificant in relation to other variables. No threat.
Infectious biomatrix: Not a danger to mechanized units. No threat.
Injured human, injury caused by accident: Empathy module suppressed during diagnostic. No threat.
Door stuck to leg: Will inhibit movement. Moderate threat.
Station in danger of escalation into Gamma-class disorder: Will inhibit movement. Cowardice module engaged. Supersede all other objectives.
You walk away from all the pending loose ends, seeing as they won't hurt you in the long term. [6/6] You finally remove your leg from the restroom door, but in the process you put so much stress on it that it fragments into several large, sharp pieces, several of which end up harming civilians nearby. As you try to leave, a mob of humans starts following you around, pointing fingers and staring. The injuries you've caused so far include a burned hand, several small cuts from the smaller fragments, and one person who is promptly picked up by EMT's on a hover-stretcher after receiving a large gash to the abdomen. The EMT's too are heading toward the trams to leave the headquarters, and they are coming up from behind rather quickly with the stretcher.
...
Moravia Lab
High Security (-1 Stealth)
To the Duke. "You may want to recommend to the others in your meeting that they call a few squads of guards in. The outbreak does appear to be escalating."
"Mmm.. I'm vaguely reminded of the initial stage of the KX9 revolt. A number of the Gentek researchers became KX9 29's a little bit before the First Cascade happened and several heavily populated worlds were razed during the rampage. I don't think it was originally intended to raze the worlds. We didn't have any 63's or 62's back then to stabilize the population, so the Cascade synced everyone in the groupmind with the strongest emotion present. Cold Seething Rage from two sources. One was the researchers when they first accessed the groupmind and saw all the unpleasant shared recorded memories of the abuse suffered by some strains of KX9 and other was from several heavily sedated KX9 waking up with blood on their minds from what had happened to them prior to sedation. Funny thing is, most of the linked researchers had literally no idea what was going on actually was happening until they linked to the groupmind, and those that did know didn't grasp the extent. They were just making new species and creatures. Occasional mandates from their superiors as well. Pretty sure they're all still alive. Most of them changed their Genelines to Researchform strains if I recall. Probably just going to do science until they run out of things to science or the universe ends. And even after that, there miiiight be a way to avoid that. KX9 don't have a definite lifespan. It's estimated in the ten or so millennia range, but since nobody's lived that long, we have no idea. Very possibly could be longer, and easy enough to extend. Specially since by that time we'll have gone Singularity at least a few more times. Cuuuuurently at S3? Pretty sure a few Shipminds are S3 and most Researchforms are S1 and one Adminform is S2. Next TactiLogiform strain is planned to be an S1. Although metabolism issues are plentiful in the current S1 formats. S1 brains take a lot of energy." "Nerin. Stop rambling out loud."
"Sorry, he tends to ramble when he gets stressed. Most of his Geneline does that, they normally only remember things based on specific mental cues past a certain span of time. A bred in coping mechanism for what they were originally intended for. I'm a touch worried about the triggers he's getting though from the revolt onstation. A number of the things that happened during the First Cascade were... Unpleasant."
"They have guards here. Quite a few outside the door. All of the execs are in here."The nobleman refuses further contact for a number of minutes as you simply hang out.
[2]
"Crap, they're going to lock down the headquarters. There's an infiltrator inside." You hear murmuring inside the conference room.
[6/2]
"My friends, I give you full permission to ride one of my vessel's shuttles out to the desired pickup range. I will contact my crew to arrange a launch for you. Do you have any cargo you need to transfer? Any other friends you have tagging along? Five or so? *cough*"
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Topic: 3008 AD: The Guild Chronicles Mission Thread - GAME OVER! See first post. (Read 48853 times)