| From: | Jeffrey Mach <mach@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Warm Reception |
| Date: | Tue, 27 Jan 1998 15:25:08 -0800 |
>>>>>[I assume you would be interested in my footage of the altercation
that occurred in the airport when you arrived. I regret the delay in
getting this to you, but current tracking efforts to locate your sister
have meant that I have been quite occupied.
+++++include: airport.trid
[The trideo view has the digitized graininess of heavy data compression.
From the way that it glances around and bobs faintly, one would assume the
footage is from Fang's eye-cams. Slight dimness indicating that he is
still wearing sunglasses. The audio, on the other hand, is monaural and
not very good quality. The POV is walking through what most would be
familiar with as the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport approaching the
security stations. Placards detail the variety of items that the
airlines do no allow their flights, as if a tourist would suddenly realize
that carrying a block of high-explosive in their carry-on was a mistake
upon seeing the sign.
Standing before the sensor corridor is a polite-enough woman wearing a
security uniform. As the others do in front of him, the owner of the
eye-cam, now seen to be a rather tall Caucasian man, reaches into his coat
pocket and hands his an I.D. card to the woman to examine. She scans it
with her portable reader, and returns it to him as it beeps pointedly
several times, unlike the previous few people, where it at most had given
a pair of faint beeps. The woman looks a little concerned as she has to
scroll her reader's display.
"You're cyberwear registration seem to be in order, Mr. Beryl. Please
step through the scanners." She managed a false, businesslike smile and
he nods. The short, enclosed corridor irradiates, senses, sniffs, and
otherwise probes Fang, silently and unobtrusively, and he comes out the
other side without any further trouble.
The gates are typically crowded for a weekday with harried business
travelers in the majority. Fang works his way towards an arrival display
around the queues of people waiting to check in and then heads for United
Gate 35, looking over the crowd thoroughly.
Near there, among the lesser numbers of casually dressed tourists, the
view focuses on a group of five men having difficulty trying not to stand
out. But then, most would not expect a troll and a professorial-looking
man in businesslike clothing to be conversing with a pair of young looking
and casually dressed men, one of whose hair is most inhuman shades of
red, and a short, Oriental man of indeterminate age.
As he nears then, they take notice, stop talking, and start to break up.
The audio pick up of Fang's voice is considerably louder than the others.
"Kristling hired me as well. I normally go by Fang. He sent me a couple
of your pictures. I take it you are the Shifters?"
This quickly gets their attention, and they regroup.
"Well at least he had our pictures. Man...I told you guys to dress
casual," the red-head says to the others, and then turns to Fang, "Sorry,
I don't look good in a suit. The name's Michael."
They shake hands, and the other members, Kyle (a.k.a. WhiteTyger),
Thirstein (a.k.a. Thunderstone), Theodore (a.k.a. Lorax, also of the
Dr. Seuss team), and Rau Minh (a.k.a. Mr. Gone) introduce themselves.
Kyle's eyes turn from brown to powder-blue in a blink, and he comments,
"You are not another mage, so, what skills, may I ask, were you hired
for?"
"I and my associate are good at tracking through more 'mundane' means. I
should be useful if there is some 'difficulty' with those that wished to
cause Kristling's sister's disappearance. In return, I have to wonder why
Kristling would be hiring an entire magical group?"
"I suppose we'll have to ask him about that," Lorax offers checking his
watch, "He's due in a few minutes."
"What about the group of three near the jetway?" Fang asks. A quick
glance shows one athletic man looking in their direction standing with
what could be his brother an sister in matching suits that nearly scream
"company men."
"I noticed them too, one guy's magically active, the other man and woman
are heavily cybered," Thirstein adds, and Kyle nods in agreement.
Michael, surprised, catches himself in mid-turn and turns back to Fang.
"You think they're a problem?"
Fang reasons, "Could be. Kristling sent me some info, including mention
that he had some previous business in Seattle and that there are a couple
of corps around here that don't like him very much, but that it is
nothing they should be willing to kill over."
"How very comforting," says Lorax, dryly.
"They could be here for someone else, but to be on the safe side, if they
are still there when the plane arrives, we should be good citizens and
inform security that there seem to be some suspicious looking people who
may be armed. Whether they are or not, I'd rather have some support. Do
you want to handle that?" Fang asks Lorax, by far the most respectable
looking member of the group, and he nods.
Minutes pass, and the occasional glance toward the gate show that the
three company people haven't moved. Finally, the public address announces
the arrival of United flight 847 at Gate 35.
"Let's move. Theodore, be ready." Fang, Thirstein, WhiteTyger, Mr. Gone
and Michael head toward the gate, a move noticed by the corporate
operatives.
People begin stepping out of the jetway, and are ignored by the
operatives. Finally, the view zooms in on a chubby-looking elf man of
mixed European descent, followed closely by an Amer-Indian elf. A quick
check on the operatives shows that they have noticed the man as well.
Fang turns and nods to Lorax, standing some distance away and, turning
back, moves to intercept the elves. Interposing himself between the
corporate operatives and the larger of the elves, he gets a nasty look
from the woman.
"Excuse me." Fang says in a politely final tone to the operatives. "If
you have business with Mr. Blackbird, I suggest you make an appointment
with him at a more convenient time."
"Out of our way," the woman says brusquely, and looks a bit surprised that
he easily resists her attempt to push him out of the way.
"Again, if you would like to talk with Mr. Blackbird, I would suggest
going through proper channels." Fang glances to see that he has Thirstein
towering beside him and WhiteTyger, Mr. Gone, and Michael are silently
backing him up. The woman looks past them for a second.
"Officer, we are members of Renraku corporation Security. These men are
bothering us and we have urgent business to attend to." The POV doesn't
bother to turn.
The man in SEA-TAC security fatigues steps into the periphery of the view.
"Ma'am, sirs, there is no record of your passing through our security
screens. If you would please come with me."
"Yeah, that's right, get these punks out of here," Thirstein advises the
security guard, "They're obviously violating 11 sub 3."
"Eleven sub 3, Thirstein? That's a pretty bad offense," the guard smirks.
"We just arrived on a flight ourselves, and we are in a hurry..." the
woman spits while one of the men tries to move around them and is met with
a wall of troll, namely Thirstein.
The security officer cuts her off, "Need I remind you that I can have a
FRT here within seconds. You should know 'the rules' by now. Now, you
can come with me for a few questions, or we can do this the hard way."
Fang now takes a second to look around and notice couple other security
guards, this time in hardshell, coming up behind the corp operatives.
Bidding a quick, "Thank you, officer," to the security guard, he begins
wading through the crowd to catch up with "Mr. Blackbird" (a.k.a.
Kristling [the Weird] Ravenwing), the Shifters following.
"You know that man?" Fang asks Thirstein before they get to their
employer.
"'Course I do. When I'm not with the Shifters, I work here. Eleven sub
three is a violation of the dress code," he laughs.
"Mr. Blackbird, I trust your business in London went well?" Fang says as
they catch up to the pair of elves. A quick look shows that Thirstein and
WhiteTyger are following them from a short distance away, keeping as close
an eye on the crowd as he is. Michael, Lorax, and Mr. Gone close by.
"Was there some sort of problem back there?" Kristling seems amused.
"Nothing we couldn't handle," Fang replies dead-pan.
+++++end include
The Shifters told me that they had to take care of a few watchers that
were trailing you, but if we can keep a low enough profile, the
corporations should not be a problem in the time it takes to locate your
sister.]<<<<<
-- Fang <15:26:34/01-27-59 PST>
