Altier did briefly wonder if names weren’t reliable. While their past and history didn’t match, surely the names couldn’t have been close either. Should have known from introductions at the diner, not just the airlock. Though if you’re supposedly dead, any name could be used. But he didn’t know many other Altier’s…well, none with his spelling.
More entertaining thoughts, such as which of them would best fit the expected team positions, would need to be considered another time. For now, there was a question to answer.
“Another person was reported missing while we were at the diner,” Altier pauses to swallow and keep himself in check. “One of the Burgatory waitresses - Amber, I believe is her name, was told her son is missing. Didn’t catch the kid’s name.”
“What do you know, she’s a spook after all,” Altier mumbles.
He nods to Oswin to indicate he agrees that the lady was there.
John did as Oswin requested, moving the video to the points he asked. With each attempt of moving the footage forward, and rewinding the faces of the group in the diner went from blurry, to horribly artifacted until the images began to clear up revealing the faces of the team that John was waiting for.
Gracie’s face was replaced with that of the Starship tech, Billie was the Marine, Oswin the Ranger and Altier the Pathfinder.
And still no signs of the lawyer.
John watched as the footage on the screen was altered in real-time, frustration evident on his face as the data before him was actively being changed.
He cursed beneath his breath.
“I take it you saw her too.” He asked, looking to Altier for a moment before glancing back at the screen. “Aside from the obvious, what makes you call her a spook?”
He was barely able to get the question out when the screen flickered and blacked out, followed by the low hum of servers and computer equipment powering down.
John looked around the room, watching as everything went still. Out of instinct he moved his hand to his back, upholstering his pistol and slowly bringing it to the low ready. turning toward the airlock, his eyes focused on the door ready to welcome anything that may try to enter.
“That was me!” came Bynari’s voice from high above everyone as he descended the catwalk.
John let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, returning the pistol back to his holster. “Thanks for the warning Bynari.” He replied.
“Sorry about that,” the tech said, “I tried the comms, but was unable to get through.”
Hearing Amber’s name, Clarissa chimed in, “Its about time.” She said in an annoyed voice.
Since he didn’t feel like having to raise his voice to continue his conversation with Bynari, John opted to speak with the group until the tech could join them.
“Feel like clarifying that for the rest of us?” He asked.
Clarissa sighed. Then seeing that the broker was actually paying attention to her and not in a reprimanding sort of way; decided to answer him.
“Amber is my mom.” She said, giving pause to allow for others to make the connection. “My brother is missing; has been missing for several days, but the police wouldn’t consider it anything major due to his age. They told us, that he could have just ran away or something. But,” she hesitated for a moment before continuing. “That isn’t like Ryan. Sure, he and my parents argue from time to time, but nothing that would make him ‘run away’ or anything.”
John eyed her for a moment, taking in her body language and micro expressions. From what he could see, she wasn’t lying.
“I take it thats why you decided to take things into your own hands.” He replied.
She nodded slightly, wiping away a tear from her eye. “Yeah.” She answered, looking down at the floor for a moment. “My mom was barely holding it together. I couldn’t stand seeing her like that. Dad decided to do something about it though. He called Bud and Grandpa John; and they have been out looking for him for the past week. I haven’t heard from them though.”
OOC: Bud and John are well known around Purgatory. Bud McElroy is Pat’s son, and is good at fixing farm equipment and just about anything with electronics.
John Sterling is Clarissa’s grandfather and Amber’s father in-law. He is the old Pawnee County Sheriff (retired) and was well liked amongst the community - known for being fair, but tough.
As she finished speaking, Bynari joined the group. Holding up a rectangular panel, he makes sure John notices it before placing it on the workstation.
“Found that on the roof.” he said, pointing to the thing. “Someone hardwired it directly into the high gain antenna. Not sure how someone attached this without the transmitters cooking them.”
John took his eyes off of the device and looked to Bynari, “Wait, that was near the transmitters?” he asked
“No,” the tech replied, “It was between them. Literally wedged between the local and interplanetary transmitters. Its amazing this thing was able to send or receive anything with that type of interference.”
“What does that mean for us?” John asked, pointing to the server room.
Turning to see where John was pointing, the tech replied. “Oh, that isn’t an issue. Once I removed this thing, our firewalls rebuilt and the AIs began scrubbing the system. I decided to have the mains power down while they work. Give it 30 minutes max and we’ll have basic systems up and running again, with everything back to normal in about 6 hours. In the meantime, I have our VPN tunnel up and running, with the backup servers coming online. Keep in mind, the last time these servers performed a backup was 24 hours ago. I have the AIs scrubbing them too, but at least its something. We should have access soon.”
“How soon?” John asked. But before Bynari could reply, the screen flickered back to life. Looking at the screen, he nodded.
“That will do.” He replied.
Looking at the piece of equipment on the workstation, he looked back to Billie.
“Earlier you asked if you all were my only option moving forward.” He said, looking from her to the others. “For now, that seems to be the case. That said, I may be your only option as well.”
“That’s really up to all of you.” John answered, taking in the expressions on everyone’s face. “You can either continue on with this, while I look into how and why you all were caught up in this mess. Or, we can part ways here. Either way, is entirely up to you.”
“There!” Oswin looked back at John as he pointed at himself on the screen. “I knew I saw her! You can see me- Yeeeeuugggh” He recoiled back in disgust at the ill-fitting deepfake before rubbing his hands over his entire face. “Please change it. Or turn it off. Or something.”
“That works.” Oswin peeked through a gap in his fingers at the blank monitor. It was only after John reholstered his pistol that Oswin realized it had been drawn, and that evidently there had been a sense of danger he didn’t pick up on.
Oswin’s face made absolutely no effort to hide the pity he wasfeeling for poor Clarissa. It didn’t matter that he had no context for who she was, or any reason to care about how she felt. Her story was believable, likely, and above all else very sad.
And she was crying. More than enough justification for his arms to start aching at his inability to interrupt the conversation and offer a hug.
Oswin was too caught up in the repeated mention of AIs to register what Bynari was talking about, as AI held an uncomfortable balance between being an impressive piece of tech and a horrible reminder of why his parents- well, best not to dwell on it. But as John inquired how long it would take, the screen turned back on, bringing up the very unsettling image once more.
“Yeeugh.” Oswin looked away from it again with a grimace, blocking his view of the screen with one hand. “Never thought I’d be glad to not have a stomach.”
He glanced up at John, losing the expression of disgust and trying to determine what the broker was saying. My only option? For what? What am I trying to achieve here? I just came because the college set things up. Which is concerning because maybe they got hoodwinked just like we were…
I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be doing here.
Oswin looked towards Billie.
Could he help it? Probably. But he wanted her to decide. If she was about to quit, so was he. If she was going to stay on - which required her to inevitably turn over those files she had stuffed in, uhh… Her pantleg maybe? Or her boot? There’s no way they could fit under her hat.
Regardless, no matter what decision she made, he would be right there to back it up to the full. That’s what a friend does. That’s the kind of friend she needs. Someone who’s willing to understand, even if I really don’t.
“Just a hunch. You said G-Man was hiding something, why not send in spooks to snuff out sniffers? Not many leave a restaurant, watch its backside, and disappear once spotted.”
This is what I get for being on a first name basis. He thought as a hand went under the shades and massaged his eyes.
After listening to the rest Clarissa had to say, Altier gives a quiet, somewhat apologetic, “Sorry.”
“Already here, don’t see much point in going back yet.” Altier answers.
Billie stood in complete silence as John looked through the diner footage.
The suspicious woman not being present in the recording even if she was definitely present when it was taken, Billie’s and everyone else’s faces being hidden from view and then altered to look like someone else’s, the revelation that someone physically messed with these people’s tech for an unknown reason, causing all of this to happen: all these things were hard to process for Billie, so she chose not to make any comments on their matter. She couldn’t really grasp the significance of what was being shown or said
Billie had no desire to find out how and why somebody or something decided to put her into this situation without her knowledge. Her life was already ruined beyond repair and none of this could possibly make it much worse.
What she did care about however is that accepting the offer would provide her with a very unique opportunity that could eventually lead her to reaching her one and only goal…
Finally, Billie looked over at John and spoke up.
“I’m staying”, there was a sense of finality in her voice, as if she finally came to terms with something that had been on her mind for a very long time. She reached her hand into her pocket, pulled out her old beaten up flip phone and handed it over to John. “The files are here. The cops have no idea that they got stolen, they still have the original ones, so they won’t be looking for us… but it’s not like you care about that…”
After everyone said their peace, and Billie handed John the phone; the broker looked to Clarissa who nodded slightly.
“I’m in too.” she said quietly, compsing herself in hopes that she wouldn’t be denied the right to keep working with the Broker and the group.
For his part, John didn’t verbally respond to Clarissa, instead he looked over the group of strangers that stood before him. Gracie was right, this had been a lot to take in; even he was feeling the stress from the string of events.
Looking back to Billie, he said “Thanks for this.” before placing the phone on the workstation near him. The surface outlining the phone in the thin blue lines that indicated the make model and serial number of the device. After a moment, the contents of the phone began to download, the files merging with the out of date ones currently on the back up server.
“I appreciate the fact that for the most part, most of you are wanting to stay. I know its been a rough morning.” Looking at his watch to make sure it was indeed still morning.
10:53 … this day just seemed to fly by.
“We don’t have access to the latest files due to the breach, but at least we can compare what you all found today in the diner with what we currently have.” He said, using his tablet to refresh the screen.
The image of the croup inside the diner was replaced with the files from the diner. The Police files were lacking quite a bit of information compared to the out of date files on the backup server, and now instead of the just photos from the files the group is able to see GPS locations and much more.
John looked over the files and compared the differences between what the police had and what the backup server held. He muttered “Typical” just loud enough for those closest to him to hear, before looking back at the group.
“I’ll let you all choose which of these you want to check up on first. But in the meantime, I need to get you outfitted for whatever you may run into while out in the field.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out three more digital wallets, similar to the ones he had passed out to Billie and Altier earlier. handing one to Oswin, Gracie and finally Clarissa. Looking at Clarissa he said, “Don’t make me regret this.” before fulling letting go of the wallet. Giving the three a moment to look at the small credit cards in their hands, he started tapping on his tablet. “I know you all aren’t the group I was expecting, but I can at least compensate you for the work you did.”
After a moment, the small display on the cards lit up. Each member’s bank account information readily available with the new balance. $100,000 newly deposited into each account.
Looking over at the South West corner of the room, his eyes focused on something miles away as he thought. Checking his tablet once more he sighed. “That’s what I thought.” He said, looking up from the device once again. "Cass’s team took most of weapons I have on site, excluding my own. And from what you all brought with you … " He paused for a moment, considering how to continue. “There really isn’t a good way of saying this, but you all need something that has some stopping power. I’d recommend checking out the local gun store.”
Looking to Oswin, Gracie and Clarissa, he added “While you all are on your way, I’ll see if I can get your files cleared for now so nothing appears on your background checks. As for the age issue; we can get around that too. Just don’t buy anything that will draw any outside suspicion.”
“As for the earpieces, I’ll have Bynari continue to do a scan on the one Clarissa used. I need to know how and where Ian got his hands on it. In the meantime, I wouldn’t trust new ones until we get the data breach settled. I’ll stick with messaging you on your phones. I’m sure Bynari can get them encrypted so you won’t have anyone looking over your shoulder.”
Saying this, he reached for Billie’s phone. Looking at it for a moment, he handed it back to her. “If you would like, I can have a new one waiting for you once you leave here. Just head back through the airlock and stop at the Customer service counter. Its up to you, but Trevor can have it waiting for you when you get out there.”
He places the tablet back on the table, and looks at the group. Knowing that he just unloaded a lot of information on them, he gives them a chance to think things over and ask any questions before continuing.
Oswin slowly folded his arms with some hesitancy, unsure if he should directly back Billie up with his body language or not. But as she began implying John’s lack of concern for the group’s safety (which Oswin didn’t pick up on), it seemed confident enough that the support would be more welcome than not.
…Wait a tick.
Oswin blinked for a moment before visibly gawking at the phone. THAT’S where the files are?? But they can’t- OH! She took PHOTOS of the files!!
His opinion of Billie as a somewhat reactionary, emotionally stunted loner who just desperately needed a hug was rapidly transforming into one of a complex planner and strategic genius who had not yet realized her true calling. It didn’t cancel the other one out, but as he looked up at her with stars in his eyes and the slightest of smiles on his awe-struck face, it would be clear to anyone who bothered to look at him that he was very impressed by her sneaky little maneuver.
Oswin tried very hard not to feel mentally tired. His body no longer had the limitations of chemical reactions, weary muscles, or any of the other biological processes that would wind down after laborious mental tasks or physical effort. But he did have a mind, and that mind had a limit of social interactions that it was capable of withstanding. His ability to bounce back was not indicative of never needing a break.
Despite how straight his back remained, his eyes started to show some of his weariness. Days like these made it seem like the ability to sleep would have been a blessing rather than an inconvenience, and revelation after revelation now highlighted by Billie’s display of utter brilliance was eating up his stores of conscious energy faster than most other things could.
Another peculiar click occurred, this time just after Oswin moved some of his hair out of the way. He really wanted to crosscheck the two images in his head, but it was more important to distract from his having ever taken a picture at all.
Billie’s machinations were not a good influence on him.
Oswin took the small devices with some hesitancy and a great amount of suspicion - the last device that had been brought near him had almost hacked into him, or at least it felt like it. But as the screen lit up to reveal he would have been stuck paying at least $40,000 in income tax next April if not for his being a minor, his jaw nearly broke through the floor.
Wait. He slowly began to pull himself back together, missing most of the comments about the weapons and being able to buy a gun without it appearing on any registry. This could just be more optical nonsense. They can make magic floors that turn into goop, so surely they can make a number appear out of thin air.
The rest of John’s statement about the money came back to Oswin suddenly. This was a payment? For what was done at the diner? It hadn’t been all that much, it was just some papers and-
“Uh-oh!” Oswin suddenly blurted out, looking around him as is he had something stuck in the middle of his back. After a very thorough confirmation that no, he was not carrying his extra arms anywhere on his person, nor did he have the case containing his extra skin, he turned back towards the group with a shameful expression.
“I… We need to go back Purgaburg- to the diner.” He gripped his opposite bicep with his free hand. “I left something there.”
At that, Altier immediately walked over to the table and collected his gear. He eyed the room just in case the defenses decided to be funny. And he would have just left out from there if John did not then suggest they investigate in better firearms. That caused him to stop not far past the rest of the group, turning halfway to look at John and listen. What sort of threats did he expect them to find?
After checking his new card, that question only grew. Perhaps John didn’t expect each of them to spent it all on gear. But who knows, government types - especially military types - sure do love overspending. Ain’t no kill like overkill and it takes overspending to get there. Though Altier was not ready to part with that cash. It wouldn’t fill the hole but at least make it less deep.
“Who, or what, do you anticipate us to be shooting?” Altier asks.
Altier’s head turns to Oswin the way a weather vane might in a decent breeze - painfully slow.
John, being preoccupied with the files finally being delivered, realized he never replied to Billie’s comment about ‘not being concerned about the police looking for the group’. He made it a point to respond to her, not wanting that concern to go unanswered.
“That was some quick thinking by the way.” He said, wanting to reassure Billie that she did indeed do a good job. “Quick thinking like that will keep you out of trouble. And I wouldn’t worry about the police. If they suspected anything, and that’s a big ‘if’, they wouldn’t be able to pin anything on you or the group. I’d make sure of that; even if I had to get personally involved in the matter.” Before he could explain what he meant by that, he heard Oswin speak.
John watched as Oswin’s demeanor changed with his statement of leaving something behind at diner. Since the footage has been compromised, he couldn’t trust it to provide the answer.
“What did you leave at the diner?” He asks, his tone not betraying the stress headache he was once again acutely aware of.
That question took his focus from Oswin. Looking to Altier, who had already made his way to the table with their gear.
“A man of action.” John thought, watching the man prepare himself for the task. He made a mental note of Altier and Billie, both already showing clear signs of potential despite their unknown backgrounds.
“That really depends.” John replied, not knowing exactly what to tell him. He didn’t have many details himself, just wild rumor and speculation. Cass’s team only surveyed the one reported scene; and that was a detour from a previous unrelated mission. The reconnaissance drone had to be recalled due to electrical interference from the other site - but that could be a red herring.
“I wish I had a better answer.” He continued, “Right now we have nine missing persons; the five from the files and the four from the team that’s MIA. I would recommend something with a little more stopping power than a .22 caliber pistol and some knives. See if you can find something with some stopping power that you believe you can handle.”
Removing his sidearm, he ejected the magazine and removed a round. Tossing it to Altier, he said “I run these. I know some people are concerned about the residual radiation, but they can bypass pretty much any body armor rated level 4 or below.”
Should Altier look at the casing in his hand, the back near the firing cap is stamped .45 ACP - DU (Depleted Uranium). The bullet itself is a serrated hollow point with the tip of the depleted uranium rod protruding in the center of the hollow point.
“Typically I send teams out with level 4+ or higher armor. If you like, we can have you “fitted” for armor when you leave here. The scanner in the airlock can get your measurements when you walk through it. I can have them printed out for each of you, but it will take a few hours to get them ready.”
He waited to let Altier and the others consider this. He felt like he just kept adding more to their plates. Typically, this wouldn’t be a concern - but since this group wasn’t used to this world; he didn’t want to overburden them right out of the gate.
Hearing Altier’s question, John reached into the top drawer of the workstation and pulled out a small hypo-pen. Placing it against the right side of his neck just below his jaw, he pressed the button. With a barely audible hiss, the pen bypassed his skin and injected a small amount of pain killers directly into his blood stream.
It suddenly dawned on Oswin that if he said more arms, he was liable to get a talking to after what just happened. He couldn’t compare them to his car-lifting feat since none of them knew anything about it. And if he said my skin, they might decide to stop talking to him altogether.
“It’s uh… Stopping power.” He tried to push his shoulders back to improve his posture, which barely helped. “I’m too young to use a gun anyw-”
…Level four?
The comment about residual radiation completely flew over his head. What’s level four body armor? Is this, like, a video game or something? Because that would be AWESOME.
Oswin looked down at himself.
Was body armor something he really needed? He was resilient enough that most low-caliber firearms wouldn’t even leave a scratch - okay, maybe that was overly generous, they’d probably leave some kind of mark - but it’d take something serious to penetrate his skin.
…Like that gun in the upper room, perhaps.
Suddenly the idea of body armor didn’t seem so unnecessary. Well as long as it doesn’t obstruct my arms, I suppose. Can’t have anything getting in the way of swapping them if I need to.
Altier’s tone did not help his posture whatsoever. Oswin cautiously looked back towards Altier trying to decide if he was going to be reprimanded with a glare or a backhand.
“By the door.” Oswin forcibly recalibrated his back servos, drawing him back to his full height. “I think it’s probably too heavy for anyone to steal.”
Clarissa watched as the Broker spoke with the group, quietly waiting her turn interject.
Having no idea what the boy meant by this, she determined this was as good of time as any to speak.
“I know I didn’t help in the diner, but shouldn’t I get paid too?” She asked, pointing to the one in Gracie’s hand before trying to hand John her wallet in an attempt to get him to add funds to the device.
She was hoping that despite her ‘forced’ entry into the team, that she would earn her keep somehow. After all, she did tell him about buying the earpiece from Ian … although that was mostly because she was careless and got caught. She wasn’t expecting much, but at least give her something to buy lunch or something. The thought of food causing her stomach to growl.
John raised an eyebrow as he gathered his thoughts. Clarissa’s abrupt comment changed his train of thought; but inly for a moment.
“Eventually,” he said, sliding the magazine back into his pistol before holstering it once more.
“In the meantime, I fully expect you to help Bynari as the two of you repair the damage your ‘incursion’ caused to our comms network.” He said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the workstation. “After I am satisfied with the repairs, you and I are going to have a long talk about your relationship with Ian.” He said, recalling her statement about the teenage delinquent who somehow came into procession of an earpiece.
Clarissa looked dumbfounded. She had forgotten that the broker was holding her responsible for the events the took place. She stood there, her hand awkwardly extended expecting him to add something to her newly acquired digital wallet; only to be left hanging like someone who was expecting a handshake that wasn’t going to come.
She didn’t know how the earpiece worked, not entirely anyway. She had some idea of how it operated, but no where near enough to use it as a brute force tool to cause the kind of harm she witnessed earlier.
She wanted to protest, but felt it wise to remain silent on the matter; at least until she could get her thoughts together and hopefully find the real cause of the cyber attacks while she helped the broker’s tech in repairing their systems.
“Okay,” she finally replied, putting her hand down at her side after she realized she had left it extended for several moments. “Where do I start?”