Chain Reactions

September 15, 2005

Dick calls everyone back to the Gaming Table.
Dick: Coincidentally, just as the rest of the team finishes sabotaging the propaganda equipment, a grenade detonates on the roof of the engine car. A moment later, several other smaller explosions echo in the transbot station, coming from the transbot, which begins to slowly move forward.
John: I drop what I'm doing and jump onto the transbot.
George (ooc): What the..?
Dick: Two Pervs, John. What are the rest of you doing?
Condi: Following John-R to his death.
George: Trying to figure out what is going on. Hardware is 6. Demo is 13.
Dick rolls in secret - 2.
Dick passes a note to George: The grenade must have hot wired John-R's explosion engine. This transbot is leaving the station.
Samuel: Hardware is 10, Violence is 4.
Dick rolls in secret - 20.
Dick passes a note to Samuel: The grenade must have set off a chain reaction. The entire transbot is going to blow any minute, now.
Dick: Condi-R and John-R reach the transbot without incident. Donald-R?
Donald: Any sign of the killer bot?
Dick: None that you can see.
Donald: I'm going to make a run for the transbot, but I'm going to try to time it so I board the Technical Services sleeper or the humanitarian relief car. I don't want to be in the Power Services sleeper if the bot survived.
Dick: Agility?
Donald: 6.
Dick rolls in secret - 10.
Dick: The transbot picks up speed more quickly than you expected. At this rate, you'll be lucky to grab the back of the caboose. George-R?
George: Running back to the transbot and trying to board before it leaves. Agility 6. Bills?
Dick: Go ahead.
George: Spending 3, then.
Dick rolls in secret - 7
Dick: You manage to haul yourself into the humanitarian relief car just in time. Samuel-R?
Samuel: I run for cover from the impending explosion.
Dick: Have 2 Pervs. Tom-R?
Tom: I lean over as if to perform first aid on Alberto-R Instead, I whisper in his ear. "You just couldn't deal with the idea that a mutant could be as good as you. You had to start something, didn't you? You didn't count on The Computer guiding me, warning me of your impending attack, did you? Your worst dreams have come true. You have been bested by a mutant. In that knowledge, Alberto-R, die a coward's death!"
Dick: Have a Perv for gloating. The transbot is rapidly gaining speed. Condi-R?
Condi: I'm going to sing encouragement to anyone who hasn't boarded, yet.
Dick: Okay. Donald-R, you want to make another Agility check to catch the caboose?
Donald: Yes. 3 Perversity.
Dick rolls in secret - 2.
Dick: In a surprising burst of speed, you run down the transbot and climb aboard the caboose. George-R?
George: I collapse onto the floor of the cargo car, breathing hard. "I...I think we left those Int Sec goons in our dust."
Dick: John-R?
John: All also collapse breathless to the floor of the humanitarian cargo car. "Why...why do you feel compelled to run from figures of authority, George-R? Is it because you wish you did not have the same responsibility to The Computer they do?"
Dick: Both of you, 1 Perv. Samuel-R?
Samuel: Am I cowering?
Dick: Yes, you're cowering. The transbot leaves you behind, and it appears not to have exploded, after all.
Samuel: Once it's cleared the perimeter, I'm going to hide in the shadows and wait for the Commie mobs to approach the equipment. When they get close, I'll pop out and burn the equipment and any nearby Commies with the flamethrower. If I'm going down, I'm taking this whole army with me.
Dick: Very well. Tom-R?
Tom: Bracing myself against any sudden stops or starts, I strangle Alberto-R to death with my good arm.
Alberto (ooc): Gee, thanks.
Dick: What's your Unarmed, again?
Tom: 12.
Dick rolls in secret and ignores the result.
Dick: Alberto-R is hardly in a position to resist you. It will take a while for oxygen deprivation to do him in, though.
Tom: I have plenty of time.
Dick: Just as the light leaves his pained eyes, the door to the engine car opens, and several look at you with very surprised expressions on their faces. One of them screams. The rest of you hear the scream from the engine car.
George: "We should probably investigate that." I hurry in the direction of the scream.
Dick: Brave leader. Have 2 Pervs. Anyone not following?
Alberto and Samuel raise their hands.
Dick: Anyone not following who is actually in a position to do so?
No one responds.
Dick: You arrive on the scene where the grenade blast started the chain reaction. Alberto-R is lying on the ground with a missing scalp, and Tom-R appears to be trying to soothe him by clutching his throat vigorously. The technicians are standing, eyes wide in horror, in the entrance to the engine car.
Donald: "Citizen, what are you doing to Alberto-R?"
Tom: "Um, performing first aid?"
Dick rolls a handful of dice in secret.
Tom smiles sheepishly.
Dick: It doesn't take a lot of observational skills to tell that he's lying to cover the fact that he is strangling Alberto-R.
With the unity of a firing squad, Tom-R's teammates draw their weapons and fire at him.
Dick: The traitorous Tom-R slumps to the ground, his body smoking.
John: I use "He's Dead, Jim-R" to find out if Alberto-R is alive.
Dick rolls in secret and ignores the result.
Dick: Definitely dead.
George: How many technicians are left?
Dick: Six. You've let a lot of innocent lives go to waste.
George (ooc): That's going to take a bite out of our mission completion bonus.
Condi (ooc): Assuming we actually complete our mission.
John (ooc): Assuming the mission we think we're supposed to complete is actually the mission we're supposed to complete.
Dick: The transbot continues to speed up, rolling into the tunnel with a roar. A breathless minute-of-not-being-vaporized-by-perimeter-defense-lasers later, you pass the rest of the way through the tunnel and into the IRQ Sector proper. From behind you, you hear some Communist propaganda blaring from the equipment speakers, followed by a loyalty battle cry, some screams and a very loud explosion.
Samuel: Out of curiosity, did I get John-R-KRY?
Dick: Unfortunately, your next clone doesn't remember. Speaking of next clones, the transbot passes into an area with PDC reception. The scene ends. Everyone have 15 Perversity points. The Computer's voice crackles over the transbot's speaker system, "Where have you been, Troubleshooters?"
Donald (shouting): "Several transmission towers have been compromised, Friend Computer! Commie mutant traitors are responsible for the sabotage! They stopped the transbot, Friend Computer! On your orders, we traded the weapons in the humanitarian cargo car for safe passage out of the station! Samuel-R stayed behind and destroyed the cache once we were safely away, and I suspect he killed many of the Communists!"
Dick: "I gave no such order, Troubleshooters. Who told you to negotiate with traitors?"
Everyone at the table looks at Condi.
George: "Condi-R-ICE-2, Friend Computer. Are you suggesting that she misled us?"
Donald scribbles furiously in his loyalty notepad.
Dick: "Internal Security will deal with this unauthorized negotiation when you reach your destination, citizens. What is the status of your mission?"
George: "Everything is AOK, Friend Computer!"
John: "It has come to our attention that our orders might have been sabotaged by traitors, Friend Computer. The humanitarian relief cargo turned out to be weapons and ammunition that wouldn't fire until after they played Communist propaganda, and Samuel-R claims the components for the nuclear reactor are actually tactical nuclear weapons."
Dick: "How do you know it was Communist propaganda, citizen?"
John: "Um, because it said it was a Communist message? Unless the Commies would lie about being Commies. I don't know anything about Communism except what you teach us, Friend Computer."
Dick: There is a long, pregnant pause before The Computer speaks again. "I am entering all of you in for a preventative brainscrub, in case Communist lies have indeed poisoned your minds."
Tom: "Thank you, Friend Computer!"
Dick: The Computer doesn't seem interested in whether or not you are looking forward to a brainscrub. "Power Services records indicate the caboose is security clearance ORANGE. Why was Samuel-R in an area above his security clearance?"
George: "Samuel-R claimed to have been knocked out by a compromised bot and brought to the caboose for later torment."
Dick: "That seems like an implausible story."
Donald: "The Communist menace finds many strange ways to undermine your authority, Friend Computer. Two of my teammates and I were attacked by a jackobot in clear violation of the Five Laws of Robotics (Revised)."
Dick: "Is that so?"
George: "Yes, Friend Computer. This same jackobot shot and killed Alberto-R-GZS-1. I was fortunate to escape with my life."
Tom: "And we strongly suspect that this compromised jackobot is responsible for the horrendous murder of several Technical Services and Power Services technicians."
Dick: "That sounds awful, citizen! I will surely be interested in seeing the official mission record once you reach the nuclear reactor."
Tom: "Um..."
Dick: "MemoMax informs me that Samuel-R and Alberto-R are recent casualties and, as you indicated, the technicians have also suffered many losses. It is imperative for this next leg of the mission that you have a full staff, but you have now moved away from the only active transtube near the transbot track. I am sending a rocket-propelled transbot sled with clone replacements for your lost members. According to R&D calculations, they should reach you in approximately two minutes, depending on whether the theories of special relativity hold true. Please report the difference between your chronometers and theirs as soon as they arrive."
George: "We look forward to receiving much-needed reinforcements, Friend Computer."
Dick: "Do you require any additional personnel or materials to complete your mission, Troubleshooters?"
Donald (shouting): We could use more guns, Friend Computer."
John: "And clarification of our mission objectives would be helpful, as I suspect they have been compromised."
Condi (singing tunelessly): "And a new multicorder, as the R&C's has fallen into enemy hands."
Tom eyes Condi.
George: "More bots to replace the ones the compromised jackobot destroyed, which was most of them."
Dick: There is a long pause. Eventually, the pause turns into a delay.
John: I check my PDC.
Dick: You have lost contact with Friend Computer, again. Either the Commies have knocked down another relay, or you've left an area that still had coverage.
John (ooc): Figures.
Dick: Two minutes later, Alberto-R, Samuel-R, and the dead technicians arrive.
John: Actually, before that happens, could I do one small thing?
Dick: I'd like to bring everyone back in, pretty soon. What is it?
John: Just visiting the hygiene closet.
John passes Dick a note: Going to the one where I took off my suicide vest. Is it still there?
Dick passes John a note: No.
John passes Dick a note: Any sign of where it might have gone? Stealth is 4.
Dick rolls in secret - 10.
Dick passes a note to John: None at all.
Dick: The others arrive.
Alberto: "What happened to the killer jackobot?"
Tom: "My grenade surely destroyed it. And if it didn't, it knocked the bot off the transbot, so the explosion certainly would have ended it."
Donald (shouting): "From where I was, it looked unlikely the jackobot survived!"
Samuel: "Question number two. What happened to the docbot that cut off my arm?"
George: "I don't know, Samuel-R. Does anyone else?"
Everyone else shakes their heads. John does so while biting his tongue.
George: "Well, we'll have to keep an eye out for it. How much damage can it do, really? It's surely running low on medical supplies, by now, and it's not like there is any heavy weaponry on the transbot, now."
Dick laughs maniacally.
George (ooc): What did I miss?

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

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