| From: | Autonomous Zone <thak@******.UCHICAGO.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | a meeting of sorts... |
| Date: | Sat, 8 Oct 1994 19:08:51 CDT |
>>>>>[Good work on connecting with Scarface. Here's how it
looked from my end.
+++++ Upload Deck Log
+++++ Activate Log
You're flying towards the floor of the matrix at speeds that
would make your meat head spin. You pass the large, glowing
CANDY icon with its flashing "West End Underplex" logo and close
in on an unobtrusive SAN mixed in with several dozen others just
like it. A white wall of tumbling alphanumeric code greets you,
then splits apart as you feed it a passcode. You veer left and
down a dataline to a small white pyramid construct, flash several
more passcodes, and find yourself inside the familiar maze of a
cyberdeck's internal organs. Quickly you locate the switch you
are after, and flip it with a cybernetic twist.
+++++ Simlink Mode activated
+++++ Simlink Transceiver Active and Receiving
The cyberdeck's guts melt away from you, and you find yourself in
a meat body. The feel is grainy, like a cheap simstim, and you
can tell you're losing resolution. You're stalking your way
through a wet, cluttered, and dimly lit tunnel. Your cybereyes
are compensating for the small bit of illumination thanks to
various half broken light fixtures strung haphazardly along the
ceiling. The respirator you're wearing doesn't keep the foul,
foul smell out. You worry a bit about toxics. It's hot as well,
you're sweating, and the pressures against your chest--from the
feel the simrig and a weapon--are becoming uncomfortable.
The large black ork in front of you stops, holding up a hand.
He's wearing ultrasound goggles, wired to his H&K227S. You catch
the insignia of the Black Ork Defence Collective on the arm of
his armored jacket as he motions for silence. You hear another
person behind you shuffle and become still. The ork leans back
towards you, whispering. "The snakeboy saw him come down this
way, and it's a good chance he's jammed himself into the old tram
junction a little further down. It's got several getaway
routes..." His head jerks away as you hear a rustling ahead. A
large, wrinkled, slime-covered Devil Rat goes crawling into a
hole up ahead. The ork looks back at you with a toothy grin,
then starts to move quietly ahead. You look back once, to see a
second tough-looking and heavily-armed ork following you. Then
you come to a dark ladderwell. The first ork grins again,
watching you pull out a maglight. Then you're descending the
ladder into the dark, and the resolution breaks up completely...
+++++ Simlink signal failure, Deactivate?
+++++ Boost Reception
+++++ Simlink signal failure, Deactivate?
+++++ No
+++++ Log Fastforward
+++++ Stop, Resume Log
You're running down a set of rusted train tracks, splashing
through fetid puddles. The adrenalin rush of fear and action pounds
in your head, a mirror to the roar of shotgun blasts and burst fire
that echo through the tunnel. Bouncing lights, flickering flame,
and gunfire flashes hop around, illuminating your path and the
fleeing figure ahead of you. Something moves in a shadowed
corner to your left and you're firing your Roomsweeper on full
choke, not even slowing to see if you hit. A blazing fire
elemental zooms up and wraps itself around the threat, and you
hear a shrill inhuman screech as it tumbles to the floor in
flames. Behind it you see several other figures entering through
a service tunnel, their human features twisted into disgusting
insect-like shapes. You hear the figure up ahead of you yelling,
and a flash reveals him struggling with a monstrous ant creature.
As you watch, he slashes through the creatures torso with a
ceremonial knife. You slow for a second, strange sensations
passing over you, your vision blacks out, then its back and you
see the ant creature scream as mana energy bursts from its chest
and it falls back. The man with the knife looks back at you, his
face grim, and you can see the grid of black scars that
crisscross his face. Then he turns and bolts again. Further
down the tracks you see what seems to be a horde of ominous forms
coming towards you with amazing speed. The scarred man fires at
them with a heavy pistol, and you hear the deadly thump of
explosive rounds. Then he darts through a hole to the left.
You waste a precious second to look back. Two orks are right
behind you, firing incessantly at a dozen ant creatures, two of
which are battling fire elementals. Then the elementals are
flying past you, burning tornadoes that crash into the bugs
ahead. You dodge through the hole the scarred man took, and you
barely see a corroded ladder leading up. You start scurrying up
the ladder, the huffing orks right behind you, screaming for you
to climb faster. You climb out into some kind of forgotten
equipment room, a single light shining overhead. The scarred man
is there, his back to a metal door, pointing an H&K227S at you.
"Get in here, dammit!" he yells, and you scurry out of the way as
the first ork crawls into the room. As the second ork crawls
frantically in, he screams, and something seems to pull him down.
The first aims his pistol down the shaft and fires once, there is
a small thump and something screeches. Then he pulls the other
ork in, his leg bleeding badly. "Close the hatch!", yells the
man, and you and the first ork swing over the massive hatch and
close off the wriggling horde below. As you latch the hatch, the
ork begins grabbing equipment and piling it on top of the hatch.
"What the fraggin' hell are those things!?" he gasps.
The second ork moans and writhes on the ground, his face twisted
in obvious pain. "The hatch will stop the flesh forms," says the
man, his voice strained, "but the tru--" He breaks off as
several large ant forms begin to materialise in the room. An
elemental manifests next to you, practically on top of an ant
spirit. Another lunges at you and you barely manage to dodge,
its pincers shredding the trim on your jacket. You hear the ork
cursing and automatic gunfire, then your vision clouds, and
returns to see the ant spirit attacking you thrown back
screeching, mana energies cackling across its thorax, its form
dissipating. You look around in time to see another ant blasted
away by a spell from the scarred man, then you hear the orc's
screams as pincers rip into his paralysed abdomen. Blood spouts
everywhere, and the ant cuts him again before you mana bolt it
into nothingness.
The other ork appears unharmed, his face white as he grips his
survival knife and pistol. The scarred man is holding the H&K on
you again, looking grim as well. "Perhaps you can tell me who
you are?", he says.
"My name is Shetani, this is Brick, and we were hoping to discuss
with you the Universal Brotherhood..." You kneel over the dying
ork, as Brick works to stabilize him. Your voice is thin and
strained, your strange accent barely showing through your shock.
"What's there to discuss?" he spits.
"I was scoping them out when I learned that some of their agents
were looking for you. We hoped to track you down first an--"
"Well, you beat their agents, but barely. Thanks for your help,
but I've got to get out of here." He starts to open the door
behind him. "If you're smart, you'll tell whoever hired you to
investigate them to frag off, before they start coming after
you." He starts to back out the door, gun still leveled at you
and Brick.
"I was not hired, I work for the Knights of Rage."
The scarred man pauses, as recognition comes over his face.
"I've heard of them..." He stops, considering. "You look like
one of 'em for sure. All right, come with me then, and quickly.
Bring the ork, we can try healing him once we get to a safe
spot."
+++++ Stop Log
What have you learned about the UB, and what should I be doing
from this end? Keep your head low, I don't relish the thought of
those bug things returning to chomp on you...]<<<<<
-- maTrixster < 08:34:51/10-07-55 >
