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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Michael Dolmer cutterspawn@*******.com
Subject: Black Plague
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 08:12:04 PST
Whoa!

Umm....Mark?

Some government agency has _created_ a deadly sexually transmitted disease
and introduced it into the populace??? On PURPOSE??

Are we _trying_ to wipe out the world's population?

=0

'Marker tests have shown stability through at least 12 degrees of
communication'....

So, your P1 subject can pass it on to 12 or so subjects before the strain
becomes ineffective (Ie: A to B, B to C, C to D down to L)? That wouldn't
be too bad....

But your statement of 'implying suitability for large scale scientific or
military applications' leads me to think, however, that it was designed so
that the B subject will be able to pass it on another 12 degrees, the C
another 12, and so on.
We call that exponential growth! Even given the virulence of only 18 hours,
this still has the large probability of wiping out a HUGE percentage of the
sexually active population! And it's already been set loose?

*gasp*

And what about mutations? As that guy in Jurassic Park stated, 'Life finds
a way'......it could possibly become _more_ virulent past the 12 degrees.

It looks like you engineered it to kill off Malone (and judging by the post,
it worked)....but it sounds like this is one of those 'world effecting plot
devices' that I was warned to avoid.

Engineering 2061's version of AIDS seems like overkill to nab one guy....

')

Or hey...maybe i've misread the implications....but that's what it looked
like upon first and second read.

Jus' wonderin'....insert smiley's alla round....
Figure'd I should know so's I can go out and buy some lead-coated condoms
when the news gets out..........

Cutter/Asmodeon
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Message no. 2
From: Mark L. Neidengard mneideng@****.caltech.edu
Subject: Black Plague
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 10:13:10 -0800 (PST)
According to Michael Dolmer:
>Whoa!
>
>Umm....Mark?
>
>Some government agency has _created_ a deadly sexually transmitted disease
>and introduced it into the populace??? On PURPOSE??
>
>Are we _trying_ to wipe out the world's population?

Um, not in the slightest. The "Black Plague" mentioned was a piece of
software (the "logic bomb") implanted by the Sybarite in the message to
prevent that message from persisting at the destination, it's the canonical
"self-destructing" message.

The latter part is a description of _how_ the Sybarite killed Malone. He
deployed an _isolated_ instance of a deadly STD into Malone's girlfriend, which
she then passed on to him (and no farther). The Sybarite is not the sort of
person to let a plague get started.

>'Marker tests have shown stability through at least 12 degrees of
>communication'....
>
>So, your P1 subject can pass it on to 12 or so subjects before the strain
>becomes ineffective (Ie: A to B, B to C, C to D down to L)? That wouldn't
>be too bad....

It means that _if_ it were relased into the environment, the thing wouldn't
lose its communicability for at least twelve serial sexual pairings.

>But your statement of 'implying suitability for large scale scientific or
>military applications' leads me to think, however, that it was designed so
>that the B subject will be able to pass it on another 12 degrees, the C
>another 12, and so on.

That's precisely it. This delivery medium was indeed designed by a private
contractor for delivering _whatever_ on a large scale. The Sybarite used his
contacts as a very highly placed assasin to have a custom weapon tailored to
get rid of Malone.

>We call that exponential growth! Even given the virulence of only 18 hours,
>this still has the large probability of wiping out a HUGE percentage of the
>sexually active population! And it's already been set loose?

No, it hasn't been set loose. It was used on one person, who it was known
would transmit it to only one other person, who would in turn not pass it
any further. Perfectly reasonable if you ask me.

>And what about mutations? As that guy in Jurassic Park stated, 'Life finds
>a way'......it could possibly become _more_ virulent past the 12 degrees.

>It looks like you engineered it to kill off Malone (and judging by the post,
>it worked)....but it sounds like this is one of those 'world effecting plot
>devices' that I was warned to avoid.

Not in the slightest. >}
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, EE Grad, VLSI. http://keyframe.cjas.org/~mneideng/
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Maigo no Daigakuinsei, Cornell U.
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark
Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict
Message no. 3
From: Michael Dolmer cutterspawn@*******.com
Subject: Black Plague
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 10:27:19 PST
>
>Um, not in the slightest. The "Black Plague" mentioned was a piece of
>software (the "logic bomb") implanted by the Sybarite in the message to
>prevent that message from persisting at the destination, it's the canonical
>"self-destructing" message.

Ahh....*whew*. I was hopin' i'd misread that!

>That's precisely it. This delivery medium was indeed designed by a private
>contractor for delivering _whatever_ on a large scale. The Sybarite used
>his
>contacts as a very highly placed assasin to have a custom weapon tailored
>to
>get rid of Malone.

Good grief!!!
Talk about coincidences! The 'Project Tempest' I was eluding to in my posts
was very similar to what you just posted (similar meaning 'unwitting targets
used for assassination purposes)! Crap!

Great minds think alike I guess...but sheesh....that's just creepy! Glad I
didn't post this morning!


>
>No, it hasn't been set loose. It was used on one person, who it was known
>would transmit it to only one other person, who would in turn not pass it
>any further. Perfectly reasonable if you ask me.

Agreed. No complaints here now that my brain *knocks skull* wrapped around
the original intent.

Dang...now I gotta come up with some other dastardly evil plot.

')

Thanx fer the clarification....

Cutter/Asmodeon
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Thwap!