From:	"Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject:	Information from Norm
Date:	Mon, 12 Apr 93 02:35:41 CET

>>>>>[I've just gotten back from City Hospital and I have managed to talk
to Norm (don't ask how I got in, there are A LOT of guards around). He's
in decent shape. Took a couple rounds in the gut and got caught in the
blast of a grenade explosion. One of the staff Bears worked him over and
now he's mostly just a little sore and tired. He should be out tomorrow
morning.

He was kinda groggy, so I didn't pump him for too many details, but this
is what he was able to tell me about the attack.

/* Begin audio dump:

Norm:
I initiated last week and we were going through the formal
recognition ceremony. There were about twenty Eagles in the room, most
good friends of my dad; higher-ups in the city government; other corp
types. Suddenly the doors exploded outwards and a dozen or so men dressed
in black and carrying light machine-guns filed in.

Me:
What races? Human?

Norm:
Uh, they were all human sized, so they could also have been elven. No
trolls; no orks.

Me:
Any insignias or uniform identifications? Anything special about their
weapons?

Norm:
Nope. They were covered head to toe in black. Couldn't see their faces
or their hands. Their weapons were unremarkable.

Me:
Ok, what happened then?

Norm:
Let's see. As I said, ten or twelve filed in to the room. They leveled
their guns towards the crowd and nobody really moved. We were all a
little stunned I guess. Then one of them said "Joseph Yoshida is coming
with us." Well Danny, you know, my dad's bodyguard, pulled an a smartgun
out of his jacket and then stepped in front of dad saying "I don't think so."

Well, there was a slight pause and then then the head guy says "Fire!" and
they filled Danny full of lead. He musta taken at least 50 rounds. Never had
a chance to get a shot off.

Anyways, the head guy then goes "Who's next?" Nobody moved. Then two of
them walked up towards dad and picked him up and started backing out.

Me:
They picked him up? Musta been pretty strong.

Norm:
I know. In any case. One of the shamans there starts humming a song. A
magical song. I picked up on it and so did a couple of the others. We
all worked together to weave together a good sized blast of magic and
droped it ground zero on the invaders, while at the same time my father
saw what we were doing and put a shield around himself. We dropped this
huge mana-bomb and it had NO EFFECT! I mean nothing! Nada! Zip!

Me:
What? That can't be?

Norm:
I know. All it did was piss them off because they turned on us and
started spraying the whole room with bullets. I got nailed in the gut and
then somebody tossed a grenade in and that was the last I remember. Next
thing I know I wake up here.

Me:
Any idea who this might have been?

Norm:
Dad has enemies. I don't know a single corp-type that doesn't. But none
that would turn to something as public as a kidnappping. If someone wanted
dad out of the way, they'd poison him or he'd have an "accident".
Kidnapping is pretty stupid.

Me:
What about blackmailing Yoshida Tech or forcing your dad to change
policies on something?

Norm:
Ransom? I can hardly imagine it being worth it. You might be able to get
a fair amount of money, but this was the work of very seasoned and
precision military-style kidnappers. Hardly something you use for simply
money. And Yoshida Tech has very little that it is doing that has any
kind of political implications.

Me:
What about Tirandor?

Norm:
Heh, I was wondering when you would ask that. Tirandor, as much as we
distrust him, is a businessman. That means that he is usually predictable
in why he is doing something. Profit. There would be no profit in the
long-run for kidnapping my father. The publicity is to high for the
dragon to deal with. No, this was someone else. Someone who is REALLY
pissed. Not because of a few billion lost in the game of business, but
because of some personal vandetta.

Me:
Shit. I don't like the sound of that. Anything else?

Norm:
Just one other thing, and this is going to sound really stupid.

Me:
Shoot.

Norm:
These kidnappers. Uh . . . they wern't . . . uh . . . alive.

Me:
What? What do you mean?

Norm:
Ok. All living things on this planet give off a form of astral radiation.
With practice, a mage can learn to sense this radiation. These kidnappers
gave off NONE of that radiation. It was like they wern't even there astrally.

Me:
You mean like someone who is really chromed.

Norm:
No, somone who is heavily chromed has the radiation muted, but not
eliminated. You can still know they are alive.

Me:
A clone like Tommy Harada or DOA?

Norm:
Nope. I could sense them just as well as anything else. These kidnappers
were simply not existant on the living plane. I don't know what it means,
but I do not like it.

Me:
Me neither. I'm going to let you get some rest and pass this info to the
net-tribe. Talk to you tomorrow.

Norm:
Later. Thanks for coming by. How did you get in here anyway?

Me:
Some things are better left unknown. 'Till tomorrow.

*/ End Voice Dump

I don't know what this means. There's some goofy magic shit involved
which means I'm totally in the dark here. I'm going to try to ransack the
police computers and see if I can get any information on the
investigation. I'll let you all know.]<<<<<
-- Wolf 359 <19:34:51 / 04-11-54>