| From: | Ereskanti@***.com Ereskanti@***.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | [Story] Log Entry (Seventh Translation) |
| Date: | Mon, 31 May 1999 16:59:29 EDT |
Great, the system was still offline. We'd heard from HAL though, and they
believed they'd have things back online in a few days at most. That was some
reassurance. Hive was enroute to meet us. Daisy and Metal were with Angel,
and enroute as well. We had landed at the Assets Inc., helipad just about an
hour ago. Mr. Mercury had given us some time to rest before our telemeeting
with our bosses. He'd already heard from his sources that the military had
been watching with tectonic resonance imaging right afterwards. Two of the
three reactors showed extreme stress damage of their infrastructure. It
wasn't likely they'd be back online any time soon, if ever. That left Deusie
with only 1. That, and his secret we had discovered the hard way.
It seems that Deus had several power sources, and we hadn't fully considered
that fact. Solar was easy to imagine. The Mall has sunlight piped in from
the outside all the time. It was nothing to imagine that the sunlight could
be piped in to any other level as well. Wind was a slap in the face. Those
magvator tubes had to have pressure release areas. Wind-powered turbines
were placed at the entrances to those releases. As the magvators would shoot
through the tubes, the forepressure wind would be vented through the
turbines. Hell, that was the system we were using at the Dark Tower in the
CZ ourselves for power. The last one, well the last one really struck Hive
and I both.
We had broken into the Arc not just once, but three times prior. One of them
here in Seattle just after the shutdown, and the other two at the Arc in
Kuala Lampur. We had used the seawater pumping systems that led to the
various water purification plants on the upper levels.
Seawater. It was right there in front of us the whole time. The majority of
the water also flowed in catch-drains. Drains that had been rigged for
Galvanic power distribution. No wonder he could shutdown the reactors at his
discretion. He'd be able to survive for quite some time on his alternative
methods, especially when combined with large battery back-ups located
throughout the building.
Yep, I wanted to hang Sherman Huang myself right now...###
[N. Daviar] Good afternoon. I've read the debriefing that was sent to me.
67% success I see. That's more than we anticipated.
###You see, Ms. Daviar as the VP for the UCAS couldn't take any active
measures. But Ms. Daviar, CotB for the Draco Foundation...she could. And,
when combined with Hestaby's formidable resources, had agreed to help fund
this little excursion. Sure, we had most of the gear already, but they were
going to foot the bill afterwards. And what a bill it was. Even 67% of our
expenses were not nice. Multiple million went up in flame when that fireball
rolled over us and the equipment.###
[N. Daviar] How many people did you lose?
[Tempest] None.
[N. Daviar] No one?
[Tempest] Of our own people, no one, though one of us is in critical care at
the moment, headed for a Novatech clinic they have contacts with. Four of us
have suffered major burns as well as internal injuries. Magical Healing
aside Ms. Daviar, some of us would probably prefer death to this pain.
[N. Daviar] I understand. The Attorney General wants me to extend her
personal, if unofficial, thank you for your actions. She also has a
question, one that I share with her.
[Padre, Jynx] And that is?
[N. Daviar] Would you be willing to go back and finish the job? Shut down
the force in the Arcology once and for all?
###There was a long silence in that room. I don't think any of us wanted to
readily answer. Pumping that much Coradrenaline through ones' body for that
duration has a tendency of taking your strength out of you later. It had
only been one day, and Tempest was up and moving only through Artemis and
Jynx combined actions. And they had to contact Atlas to get even more
powerful healing.###
[N. Daviar] We don't expect it tomorrow, maybe not even next week. But it is
something we'd like you to consider.
[Jynx] We'll think about it then ma'am. Just not, not right now.
[N. Daviar] I understand. Ryan will help you get some sheltered rest, unless
you would prefer otherwise?
[Daisy] I think I'd prefer otherwise. Rest, just not here.
[N. Daviar] Whatever you desire, let us know.
[Hive] Not to be the materialist here, but what do we get out of this?
Anything?
[N. Daviar] You have accomplished more in one day than many have done in two
months. You will be paid, the proportional sums as well as the more physical
requests. Tempest, if I recall, had requests for a yacht in the polynesians?
And there were others, more real estate oriented requests as well. Those
are going to be granted. Your gift of your logs, if damaged, is still vital
in helping us formulate future alternatives, with or without your help. Are
you sure you will not share the shielded communications method you used?
[Padre] No.
[N. Daviar] Good Evening then, and I hope to hear from you again soon.
### That was it, we were released. Strangest thing was, most of us returned
to the Dark Tower in Chicago. We figured hiding inside the containment zone,
a place with little to know Matrix access would give us a better defensive
screen against Deus, should he decide to take retributive actions. Hell, we
were the only building in the old Core that even had power and a good supply
of weapons.
Sleep would be nice. My wife would be nice. So would my children, presuming
of course my daughter hasn't dug up the garden in her zeal to make things
grow better...###
(The End?)
