Message no. 1

From:	Cutter cutterspawn@****.com
Subject:	insert Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' here
Date:	Tue, 07 Mar 2000 19:31:22 -0500

*****INTERNAL:
>>>>>[Now _where_ exactly did I put that ladder?

+++++begin video
Asmodeon sits in one of a few run-down apartments that he had procured
as safe-houses for just such an emergency. An old mattress lying bare
on the floor, a phone sitting atop a phone book, and a PC sitting beside
the mattress. Other than the toilet, you could say that this hole in
the wall was less than stylish. It would suffice for his purposes,
however.

After days of ensuring the data did not have a rewriting tracer program
or scrambler built in, he was finally ready to see just what the chummer
got himself killed over days before. No mention of the murder had been
seen on the Trid, leaving the not-surprising stench of a cover up. With
the final adjustments in hooking up Bessy to the PC, the decker unzipped
the file into it's component parts.

+++++run Project_Tempest_summary_ log.avi

The scene appears slowly on the screen, a laboratory of sorts in the
background partially blocked by a middle aged man dressed in a white lab
coat and horn-rimmed glasses. Straightening his tie, the I.D. badge on
his jacket is visible but unreadable. A number of other lab technicians
are busy behind him performing unknown tasks, but the speaker seems
visibly disturbed as he begins.

'Despite my protest, the Project has now had it's funding extended, with
field tests to begin by the end of this week. More data is required
before we can even _begin_ to theorize how the process...'

*****muffled voice behind the camera

'Right...right....' he laments, his shoulders sagging visibly. 'As
stated in log 02-12-61c, the re-animation process has succeeded with
long-term results. Subjects regain mobility almost
instantaneously...awareness of their surroundings seconds after that.
Compliance of direction seems total, as can be expected from someone
without a _soul_!!' he finishes, his voice filled with disgust once
again.

*****muffled voices behind the camera again

'Ahem........Reflexes and other fine motor skills seem almost as sharp
as before the termination, and we have determined that the body can
still remain combat effective even after 37 percent of it's mass has
been erradicated. But we still don't know what long-term psychosematic
effects the reanimation process will bring with it.'
His voice is faster now, the muffled voices growing more incessant.

'No! They can't seriously start using this technology on their troops
without......'

*****log interrupted
*****3 seconds of static
*****log resumes

In the foreground, a larger man appears. He is immaculately dressed,
hair slicked back, a thousand dollars worth of orthodontal treatment
evident in his face.

'The impications of this technology will prove invaluable to our
overseas clients engaged in their military activities. It is estimated
that over 73 percent of fatalities resulting in personal firefighting
can be reanimated and returned to field duty within hours. Our clients
will have troops that are not only hard to kill, but hard to keep down.
No longer will wars be won on sheer numbers or the most powerful
weapons.'

Turning to the left, the camera follows his ever-widening smile and gaze
to a large machine, circular in design and similar to a CAT scanner. A
cadaver is being inserted into the hole in the medieval device, with a
number of technicians moving away from the area behind protective
shielding. The suited man dons a pair of darkened goggles as orders are
shouted. A low hum is picked up by the camera as it's picture begins to
grow distorted......

*****log interrupted
*****7 seconds of static
*****log resumes

The camera display returns, still centered on the machine and table that
slowly slides out of it's belly. Slowly, the male figure on the slab
sits up, the camera zooming in on the man's face as it suddenly opens
it's ghostly pale eyes.

'Socio-political applications are also evident in this project, with
such scenarios as capturing a trusted aide of an enemy, disposing of him
initially and reanimating him under the client's control. A simple
tranceiver placed in the cranium to transmit orders, and you can have
him sally up to General Bigboy and let the cortex bomb do it's thing.
Fools all forms of identification because for all intents and purposes,
it _is_ him!'

The camera angle had switched back to the suit, who had taken off his
goggles and is smiling even wider.

'We haven't been able to regain full speech from them yet but
hey....we're not entering them in political debates now are we?'

*****muffled voices behind the camera

The man straightens his tie, resuming a more professional attitude.

'Simply put, this technology promises to shift the tide in any political
arena in the favor of those who own it. Testing continues, with field
exercises and induction of them into practical applications to begin
within the week.'

+++++end Project_Tempest_summary_ log.avi


The decker sat back, staring at the screen before him where the suit's
smiling visage remained frozen in the last frame.

'Wholly fragging crap on milktoast...' he muttered to himself.

+++++end video]<<<<<
-- Asmodeon <23:33:01/03-05-61>