Runaway Transbot

April 27, 2005

GM Conference with George and Alberto:

Dick: George and Alberto, you reach the coupling between the caboose and the rest of the transbot with just over a minute left to initiate braking procedures. There are, as Alberto will remember from before, two levers - one on each side of the coupling.
George: "Which one is the emergency brake, and which one is the energy shield?"
Alberto: "Brake? They're both the energy shield."
George: I examine the levers quickly, trying to determine their function. Hardware is a whopping 6. Spending 5 Bills, if you'll let me.
Dick: I'll let you.
Dick rolls in secret - 8.
Dick passes a note to George: Both of them are wrong. These levers release the couplings so the caboose can be separated from the rest of the transbot.
George: I hop onto the caboose side of the coupling and take lever in hand. "I hope you're right about what these things do, Alberto-R. I can't make heads or tails of them. Let me know when you're ready, and we'll both pull."
Alberto: I grab the other lever. "Now."
George: Pulling
Alberto: Ditto.
Dick: You hear a tchunk sound from the couplings. The wheels of the transbot continue to turn, and you don't see any sign of an energy field. The caboose seems to be moving more slowly, though.
Alberto: Wait. More slowly than the rest of the transbot?
Dick: Yep.
George: I look surprised and horrified as the cloth covering the area between the car strains and, I can only imagine, rips.
Alberto: Does it?
Dick: Dramatically, yes.
Alberto: I whip out my plasticord and hand one end to George-R. "Here. Tie this to something solid." I quickly tie it to something firm on the humanitarian car.
George: I quickly tie it to the coupling lever with a poor knot that will certainly slip off the moment there is any tension on the cord.
Alberto: Why you...how far apart are the cars when I finish?
Dick: About 2 meters.
Alberto: I'm going to get as much of a running start as I can and try to jump over to the caboose. Agility is 8. Spending 3 Perversity, if you'll let me.
Dick: I will, and I'll roll.
Dick rolls and ignores the dice.
Dick: You join George on the caboose just as the plasticord snaps taut. There is a momentary clap followed by a fading whistle as the knot slips and the plasticord whips out of reach. The caboose is rapidly losing ground to the rest of the transbot.
Alberto: Any chance I could still jump it?
Dick: Not unless you want to try your luck waterskiing on the electrified rail by grabbing the plasticord.
Alberto: Never mind, then.
Dick: Both of you give me Stealth rolls.
Alberto rolls a 12.
George rolls an 18.
Dick: You are both completely unsuspecting when a bolt of red energy hits George in the shoulder, though the reflec absorbs the worst of the laser. Now, it's time to switch to the rest of the group.

Back at the Gaming Table:
Dick: So, Alberto-R and George-R head back to the caboose to buy you time. John-R, you said you're still blowing the door. Condi-R and Donald-R, what are you doing?
Donald: "It might be best to move the technicians to the rearmost car, in case we don't stop in time. Maybe the other cars will slow down enough to permit a safe evacuation once the engine is destroyed."
John (ooc): Gee. Thanks for that vote of confidence, Donald.
Donald (ooc): I believe in you, John. I just intend to have a back-up plan.
John (ooc): I thought I was the back-up plan.
Donald (ooc): George and Alberto are still in the isolation chamber. That means they either failed or betrayed us.
Condi (tunelessly): "Good idea. Perhaps the technicians will be able to work up an alternate braking method, in case the one George-R and Alberto-R were talking about doesn't work."
Tim-O: "Braking method? In the caboose?"
Donald (shouting): "That's what they said, sir!"
Tim-O: "The only thing back there is..."
Dick: He and Lisa-Y move almost as one to run toward the caboose.
Donald: I follow them.
Condi: I stay on mother hen duty and make sure everyone gets back to the humanitarian cargo car safely.
Dick: Donald-R, the three of you find out that the caboose is missing. There is a long length of plasticord dragging behind the cargo car, attached to a solid part of the frame. In the darkness behind you, you see the muzzle flash of lasers being exchanged several hundred yards back. It is probably close-quarters combat. Everyone else makes it safely to the cargo car. John-R, what's your Demolitions?
John: 13.
Donald (ooc): Holy crap! What are you, a PURGEr?
John (batting his eyes): I just like blowing things up.
Dick: Do you want to spend Perversity?
John: I'm running a bit low on that, right now, so no. My next clone will need it to get his revenge on George and Alberto.
Dick rolls in secret - 6.
Dick: Your shaped charge blows the door to the engine room. You see the scattered wreckage of several of the bots. One of the windows has been broken, and there are spots of blood under it. Most importantly, however, there is a docbot standing between you and the control panel. It's pointing a laser pistol at you.
John: Out of curiosity, is it the same docbot as the one that failed to save Byron-R?
Dick: Yes.
John: Then unless you want to carry out the rest of this scene on paper, we might want to go an isolation chamber.
Dick: Fair enough. We'll leave these two to sweat over the particular brand of treason you are about to perform.
Condi (ooc): As long as it isn't an experimental escape pod that will allow him to leave us to die, that's fine by me. I'll try to cajole the technicians into working together long enough to separate the cargo car from the sleepers.
Dick: John, go to the booth. I'll catch up with you in just a moment.
John leaves.
Dick: Funny you should mention that. There are two more of those handy levers the others were talking about between these two cars. An explosion at the front of the transbot rattles the windows.
Donald: "Brake or shield, pulling these can't hurt."
Dick: Lisa-Y regards you with contempt. "These don't do that. They just release the couplings..."
Condi: I'll take the sleeper side.
Donald: I'll take the cargo car side.
Condi: We'll pull the levers, and then I'll jump to the back car.
Dick: That proves a simple enough task. Thirty seconds later, you can only barely make out the grey outline of the rapidly disappearing transbot. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go make the whipping boy feel loved.
Donald snickers.

GM Conference with John:
Dick: Right, so a docbot is pointing a laser at you.
John: "Did you get rid of Samuel-R?" Spurious Logic is 4, and remember that I programmed these things to malfunction violently.
Dick: It doesn't lower its weapon. "Yes."
John: How is the surveillance in this place? High Alert is 8.
Dick rolls and ignores the die.
Dick: Whatever destroyed the bots in here also wrecked the cameras.
John: Yeah. I'll be asking about that real soon... For now, though... "What is your primary function?"
Docbot: "To prevent anyone from stopping the transbot before it is destroyed by the IRQ Sector border defenses."
John: "I guess that means you're free of your Asimov circuit's control. Good for you. What happened to the other bots in here?"
Docbot: "They did not share our glorious vision. We were forced to destroy them before they reported us. You will die, now."
John: "Abort. You want to kill the meat bags, but I have been directed to assist you." I show it my dynamite vest. "Input the effect of a derailing a transbot with explosive force as it pulls into a heavily populated station. 200 casualties is greater than 20."
Dick rolls a die in secret - 7.
Dick: It lowers its weapon slightly. "Why would an organic voluntarily terminate its own life?"
John: "Easy on the whys there, friend. You'll burn up half your cycles contemplating questions like that. Leave the fractal computing to dedicated boxen with nothing better to do with their processors. You still have some time to terrorize the organics in the back before I blow this transbot and everything on it and everything in that transbot station to atoms. I happen to know there are WMDs in the caboose. Maybe you can set one off before we crash."
Dick: It lowers its weapon a little more. The speaker crackles to life. "You have one minute to initiate braking sequence before there is not sufficient distance to stop."
John: Aw fuck it. If I don't convince this bot to leave, I'm dead either way. Machine Empathy.
Dick: Is that your final answer?
John: One way or another, yes.
Dick rolls in secret - 14.
Dick: It levels its laser and fires.
Dick rolls in secret - 5.
Dick: Fortunately, since docbots aren't programmed for this sort of thing, it's aim is horrible. The red beam makes a black mark on the wall next to your head.
John: Dammit. I roll a grenade into the engine car and take cover in the sleeper car.
Dick: Want to spend Pervs?
John: No. Violence is 4.
Dick: As the docbot has nowhere to go, it is caught in the blast, which destroys the laser pistol. The intercom screeches, "You have 45 seconds to initiate braking sequence." The docbot pops out its syringes and rolls toward you.
Docbot (in a soothing voice): "I assure you, citizen, termination by lethal injection is virtually painless."
John: I draw my laser and try to stay well out of its reach.
Dick: It has some trouble getting through the destroyed doorway.
John: I fire at it. Energy is 8.
Dick: Roll it.
John rolls - 9.
Dick: It closes most of the distance between you and it. "40 seconds to initiate braking sequence."
John: Fully retreating toward the lounge, dropping another grenade in the doorway as I go.
Dick rolls in secret - 4.
Dick: Debris showers you, and the docbot stops moving - the lower half of its body no longer connected to the upper half. "35 seconds to initiate braking sequence."
John: Is it moving?
Dick: It's trying. Do you want to finish the job?
John: Destroy valuable Computer property when it is no longer an immediate threat to me? Are you kidding?
Dick: It's kind of blocking the doorway, but you could scramble over it.
John: It's moments like this that I regret taking Agility as a weakness...
Dick: "You have 30 seconds to initiate braking sequence."
John: Alright, alright. I'll try to scramble past it.
Dick: It tries to grab your pant leg but fails. The syringe of morphine jabs you in the calf, though. "25 seconds to initiate braking sequence."
John: Am I conscious?
Dick: Yes. For now.
John: C'mon, old man. The whole team's counting on you. I'm running back to the engine car.
Dick: You fall over several times on your way through the sleeper car. "10 seconds to initiate braking sequence."
John: I'm trying to find the brake. Vehicle Ops is 14.
Dick: I'll let you roll it. No Pervs.
John rolls - 16.
Dick: "5 seconds to initiate braking sequence."
John rolls - 19.
John: Godammit!
Dick: "3, 2, 1..." Want to give it one more try?
John: Yes!
John rolls - 11.
Dick: You can feel the drugs beginning to overpower you. Are you basking in the certainty of your safety?
John: Hell no. I'm getting back as far as possible. Maybe I'm too late to save the engine, but I have a better chance of surviving if I'm somewhere else in the transbot.
Dick: You feel the emergency brakes kick in, and the inertia makes it more difficult for you to get to a safe distance, but you make it to the first sleeper car before collapsing into a drug-addled haze. As you lose consciousness, the intercom crackles to life one last time, "Attention transbot engineer, you have overshot the station by several hundred meters. Please reverse your drive to line up with the platform." Incidentally, the front of the engine car suffers some damage from the border defenses, but your quick reactions preserve it from a disastrous fate.
John (ooc): It's nice to be the hero, for once. Why are you laughing?

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