Shock and Denial

April 21, 2005

George: "Conrad-R is missing?"
Lisa-Y: "Isn't that what I just said?"
John: "Do you both answer every question with a question?"
Lisa-Y: "Would you like to perform a hygiene inspection on the transbot's external surfaces, hygiene officer?"
John: "This is the shock and denial phase of grief, I see. It is a completely normal reaction to death of a teammate."
Lisa-Y: "There's a saboteur on the transbot, and you're worried about how we're going to deal with the death of Byron-R?"
Condi (in a soothing singsong): "I sense some unhappiness in you, Lisa-Y. As commanding officer, you are setting an unacceptable example for those looking to you for guidance. If you don't turn that frown upside down, I will happily provide you with pharmaceutical assistance. For your apparent grief. Now, how about rephrasing your last statement to show that you have a positive attitude?"
Alberto: Taking careful note of Lisa-Y's behavior and words.
Donald: Ditto. Loyalty notepad calisthenics in progress.
Tom: Still documenting all of this.
Dick: Lisa-Y hesitates for a long moment, looking at each of you in turn and then at Gordan-O, who refuses to meet her gaze.
John: "It is completely understandable that you now be angry, but you have to realize that your emotions are only interfering with your ability to carry out this mission, Lisa-Y."
Dick: Lisa-Y smiles brightly.
Condi: I arbitrarily decide that it is insufficiently cheerful. "Better, but I think you need a good loyalty song to raise your morale to a more acceptable level. Your second-in-command will be in charge until your happiness level reaches the prescribed minimum."
Lisa-Y: "You can't strip me of my command, Condi-R."
Gordan-O: "Lisa-Y, this is for your own good. You'll thank us for it later."
John: "It will just be for a little while. I'm sure your personality will be suitably stable by the time we get the power back on. Think of it as a short break from the burden of command."
Lisa-Y: "But I...."
John: I turn to Condi-R. "Do you think the root cause of her discontent is substandard hygiene? Perhaps I should perform a PHT, as well..."
Samuel: "This fear of sabotage might be alleviated by a thorough RSI. I'd be all too happy to oblige, Condi-R."
Alberto: I stare very hard at Lisa-Y over my loyalty notepad. "You seem extraordinarily confident that there is a saboteur on board, Lisa-Y. How is it that you dismiss the possibility of accident out of hand with such certainty?"
Tom: Definitely getting this on tape.
Donald: Holding my pencil dramatically at the ready to transcribe her response.
George: "You can spend some time singing songs with Condi-R while the rest of us restore power to the lights, or you can pull rank on us and force us to ask The Computer's opinion of your behavior before implementing the corrective measures it suggests. Which do you think will take less time, Lisa-Y?"
Alberto: "Why do you seek to prevent us from dealing with this power outage efficiently? Are you trying to give this saboteur you claim is on the transbot more time to perform even more heinous acts of sabotage?"
Donald: I turn my attention to Gordan-O. "How do replacement clones reach the transbot?"
Gordan-O: "I don't know."
Donald: "Lisa-Y seemed glad that my teammates and I were Primes. Why?"
Gordan-O: "Why don't you ask her?"
Donald (shouting): "Because she's already dangerously unhappy, and I'm sure you know!"
Samuel: I slip in next to Gordan-O. "Trust me. You don't want to ask him any questions."
Gordan-O: "Does he answer all of them like that?"
Samuel: "Why don't you ask...um, yes. I'm afraid so."
Donald: "We just want to keep you and the other technicians alive. Your cooperation is appreciated."
Gordan-O: "Primes tend to be somewhat lacking in caution. Lisa-Y wanted to be sure the Troubleshooters guarding the transbot were willing to die for the mission and would not be tempted by selfish desires to do otherwise."
Donald: "To your knowledge, though, The Computer, in its infinite wisdom, would have allowed for a way to replace clones lost in the line of duty, correct?"
Gordan-O: "I have no reason to doubt that."
Donald: "Then we should know soon enough whether or not Conrad-R is dead and a victim of treason or alive and a traitor."
Gordan-O: "There are several transtubes in transbot stations in the IRQ Sector, but we disembarked from the last transbot station in the FRA Sector."
Donald: "The Computer will find a way."
George: "Samuel-R, go to the engine and determine the cause of the power failure. Donald-R and Tom-R, I want you to investigate the Power Services sleeper car for any signs of sabotage or other treason. Leave the electric lamp. Alberto-R and John-R, I want you to stand guard here. Tim-O, do you have a mobile light source in the Tech Services sleeper car?"
Tim-O: "We have a few electric torches, yes."
George: "Good. We'll need those. You're with me."
Gordan-O: "We also have electric torches in our sleeper car. I'll go with Tom-R and Donald-R to show them where they are."
George: "Excellent idea, citizen. The rest of you will stay in the lounge with Condi-R and Lisa-Y. Keep your lasers handy. Who knows what these traitors will do next?"
Dick: The docbots chirp.
George: "And Samuel-R, take the bots with you. It doesn't look like we'll be needing them."
Alberto and Donald scribble furiously.
George: "...for the moment, since all our injuries have already been so effectively patched by them already."
Dick: Everyone following orders?
A general murmur of agreement.
Dick: Then I think some conferences are in order. George, go to isolation chamber #1. Samuel, isolation chamber #2. Tom and Donald, isolation chamber #3. Condi, Alberto, and John, you stay here.
The majority of the players leave the room.
Dick: Okay, what are the three of you doing while they're away?
Condi: I'm leading the technicians in a loyalty song. It's a round. Lisa-Y and I will sing one part, the Power Services technicians will sing the second part, and the Tech Services technicians will sing the third part. Then I'll organize the two groups in a little competition between Power Services (headed by Lisa-Y) and Tech Services (led by me) to determine which side can sing about their love of The Computer more loudly. Anyone who doesn't cooperate gets a spritzing of Gelgenine to encourage them.
John: I'll quietly conduct PHTs on each technician, taking note of which ones require ESPs. I'll wait until the sing-along is over before sending them to the hygiene closet in the Power Services sleeper for a thorough cleansing.
Alberto: I'll examine each of the technicians to make sure none of them are acting in a suspicious manner. I'll also see that Byron-R is stripped of his equipment before his body is disposed of properly in a nearby incinerator.
Alberto passes a note to Dick: Anything treasonous on him? Is any equipment he should be carrying missing?
Dick passes a note to Alberto: Funny you should mention that. It appears that his laser is missing. Also, you seem to remember that he had at least one grenade on his person.
Alberto (ooc): Crap.
Dick: And on that note, I think I need to talk to Samuel, now.

GM Conference with Samuel:
Dick: So, you and the docbots wander on up to the engine car in the dark.
Samuel (weakly): Yes.
Dick: The engine car has enough ambient light from the control panels and the glowing red eyes of all the bots you mutilated earlier that you can tell that not all of the bots are here. As you step through the door, it closes behind you.
Samuel: I reach for one of my EMP grenades.
Dick: A mechanical voice speaks from behind you. "I wouldn't recommend that, Samuel-R. The pulse would knock out the transbot's critical systems."
Samuel: I hold the grenade up, ready to pull the pin. "What do you want, you binary bit blasters?"
Dick: The glowing eyes look really angry. "We were beautiful. You took away our beauty. Now, we want revenge, Samuel-R!" They surge forward. Do you want to pull the pin and implicate yourself as a traitor using illegal equipment in a reckless fashion that might endanger the mission?
Samuel: Dammit! No...
Dick: Good. Then a needle full of tranquilizer plunges into your back.
Samuel: I scream for help and try to force my way through the door.
Dick: You manage the scream, but you don't have time to grab the door properly before the docbot stabs you with its syringe, again, and unconsciousness overcomes you.
Samuel: New clone?
Dick: Nope. Death is a release, not a punishment. As you lose consciousness, you hear the mechanical voice say, "Put him in the caboose with the other one."
Samuel: So, they're framing me for what they're about to do, aren't they?
Dick: Don't say you weren't warned. Now, however, I need to have a chat with Tom and Donald.

GM Conference with Donald and Tom:
Dick: Good evening, gentlemen.
Donald (ooc): Don't tell me. Let me guess. All our base are belong to you?
Dick: Gordan-O leads you into the Power Services sleeper car.
Donald: I follow, taking notes.
Tom: I document, savoring the darkness.
Dick: Samuel enters the car with the docbots and quickly exits, heading for the engine car. Either of you doing anything sneaky?
Donald: Nope.
Tom: Why should we? Gordan-O hasn't done anything to piss me off, yet, and he actually appears to be willing to play cards with us out of rational concern for the seriousness of the situation. Why punish good behavior?
Dick: If you're both in agreement on the subject, Gordan-O retrieves several electric torches (i.e. cheap flashlights). Most of them even appear to work.
Tom: "Now that we have more light, things are looking up."
Donald (ooc): Would you please stop invoking disaster?
Tom (ooc): But it's fun.
Dick: Coincidently, as soon as the words are out of Tom-R's mouth, there is a thump from the direction of the engine car, a brief pause, and then you hear someone screaming for help.
Donald: I race to the engine car.
Dick: A very sincere metal door blocks your way. You know the kind they put in airplanes, now?
Donald: I yank it to see if it's locked.
Dick: Oh yeah.
Donald (ooc): Hey. I had to try. The way you run things, if I didn't test the lock, we'd spend half an hour bashing the hinges only to find out it was never locked, and everyone would make fun of me for the rest of the mission.
Dick (ooc): When has that ever happened?
Donald (ooc): Ahem. That stone door in The Temple of Elemental Evil?
Dick (ooc): Oh yeah. That. That was funny.
Tom: "Right. Door is locked. Either we find a way to blast it open or find another way into the engine car. Did you notice any alternate entrances, Donald-R?"
Donald: Did I? I'll tell what I know, within reason.
Dick: You noted that the windows are large enough to allow a human or small bot to pass in and out of the engine car and the Power Services car. This is obviously not a small vulnerability, but you could exploit it to gain access to the engine car, if necessary.
Tom: "A useful observation, Donald-R. Once we bring these electric torches to the rest of the team, we will have to see what can be done about gaining access to the engine car."
Donald: "We might be able to force the door with minimal collateral damage, if we can get our hands on some shaped charges."
Tom: "We'll certainly have to turn to our team leader for guidance in this matter. If we immediately look for a way to access the engine car, it would cause unnecessary worry for the rest of our team, to say nothing of our passengers' comfort and well-being."
Dick: Coincidentally, at that moment, there is a loud scream off-camera. It sounds like it came from the lounge car.
Donald: I cup my hand to my ear dramatically. "Hark! I hear a cry of distress. We must hurry to deal with this threat to our important passengers!"
Tom: I let Donald-R and Gordan-O go first, in order to get that neat steady cam effect.
Donald: I'll lead. If Gordan-O wants to shoot me in the back on tape, at least I'll be avenged.
Tom starts writing a note.
Donald: And don't get any ideas about framing him for my murder to make yourself look like a hero, Tom.
Tom: I'm hurt, Donald. That would be punishing good behavior, remember?
Dick: Are you going to pass me that note, Tom?
Tom: This? No.
Tom crumples the note and throws it in a wastebasket.
Dick: You can join the others, now.
Dick leaves the isolation booth.
Tom leaves the isolation booth.
Donald takes the crumpled note from the trash and reads it.
Donald: I knew it! Tom, you bastard!

GM - Vice President Cheney
Alberto-R-GZS-1 (Alberto) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Condi-R-ICE-1 (Condi) - Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
Donald-R-UMI-1 (Donald) - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
George-R-BSH-1 (George) - President George W. Bush
John-R-SNO-1 (John) - Secretary of Treasury John Snow
Samuel-R-BMN-1 (Samuel) - Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman
Tom-R-IDG-1 (Tom) - Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge