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[Synik]

"Undies? Uhhh. N-no. I don't think so," Adam replies not getting Cass's tone. "'Cept maybe Neen and Nae. Nae doesn't need clothes." The tray rattles slightly and he heads into the corridor properly.

His expression brightens when Ophilia mentions Security. "Oh, you've nothing to fear from them. Sec don't come down here. We've got an agreement. Officially we're too near a biological waste dump from the war. At least that's what the computers all say." He wanders away to the right, the corridor looking more like a partially converted tunnel as you move along it. Adam's voice echoes off the walls a little as he chatters. "Security - like most topsiders - don't like bots. Makes them nervous. Too many - what's the word? - oh, hackers and what with the stuff that I read about in the Last War, I'm not surprised. It's not AIs you can't trust, it's the people controlling them."

The corridor is lit by strips of bioluminescent plastic that are hung from the ceiling by fine wires. The glow from them increases as you approach and dim as you walk away. It feels in some way that you are walking in a pool of light. The floor is warm against your bare feet and when Adam stops chatting, all that can be heard is the chink and rattle of the tray bound glasses and the gentle slap-slap-slap of your feet.

You pass a number of doors, but Adam keeps on moving until you reach a set of white plastic doors. They slide open revealing a living space. Various sofas and a mixture of flow-foam chairs and retro beanbags litter the place. A very thin video screen hangs on the wall showing country scenes from before the snow came. On the opposite wall to you are some more doors, wooden ones this time and a breakfast bar juts out from the left. A number of abstract paintings or wallhangings cover the gaps between plants and furniture.

A woman with a dark bob sits barefoot on one of the sofas, her foot is curled up under her. She looks to be in her 40s and she has a serious expression on her face as she scrawls with a finger of a waifer thin computer screen. She doesn't look up. "Put the glasses in the washer please, Adam."

Adam coughs nervously. "Uh - Eve. I brough Joe's friends. They'd woken up."

Eve looks up and her expression changes from icy business manner to the warmth of a hostess. "Thank you, Adam. Now please, put the glasses away and be a dear and flick the drinks unit on. " She gets out of the sofa and picks up a black walking stick. "Hi," she says making her way to you slowly. "On behalf of the clinic I'd like to apologise for any discomfort or distress you may have experienced during your stay here." Her shoulders shrug slightly as she bobs her head. "We didn't have a lot of choice in the extraction method. Please, make yourself comfortable and I will try to answer any questions you have."

Behind Eve, one of the wallcoverings peels back like melting plastic and the war-droid you saw earlier slips into the room. The solid metal mask you saw last time has been removed and shows a rough-hewn face: craggy metal more sculpture than war machine. The creature walks upright on four of its legs, two arms swing by its sides, the remaing two are folded. There are specs of blood on its chest. In a flat monotone the droid says: "Welcome to our haven. I am Nae. Be seated. Please."

[fury]

[color=#6666CC;]"What the f...!"[/color] Cass takes a couple of steps back as the war droid enters and then speaks to them. Clutching her chest she stammers, [color=#6666CC;]"'pologies for my rudeness, you startled me. Nice to meet you Nae, and Eve"[/color] she nods in the womans direction. [color=#6666CC;]"I'm Cass...but I suppose you already know that..."[/color]

[Synik]

The droid says nothing for a moment and a disgruntled look passes through Eve's smile. "Cass," she repeats as if trying on the name. "Nice to meet you. I'm Eve as Adam has probably mentioned. Don't mind old grumpy pants behind me - " She stops and wacks the war machine with her stick. "Give it a rest Nae, they're not mercs."

Nae seems to snort - which technically must be impossble for a robot as they lack lungs. Is it a cyborg rather than some killer machine? The machine's voice softens: "Please, make yourself at home. Adam, some drinks if you'd be so kind." The voice, while synthenic has human depth to it. You begin to wonder if the idea of Nae as a machine was easier than the concept of that body once being human. The memory of Joe's arguement with that techie guy flutters for attention. You try and stay focused on the now.

There's a sound of a machine making coffee and - your nose twitches - is that chocolate? Not the scary cocao oil stuff, but the real deal? Your stomach moves and you wonder when the last time you ate was. Eve brings her stick back to lean on. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. I know I do. But, guests first."

[Early Bird]

Ophelia looked around at the room. "For outlaws they do pretty well for themselves" she thought breathing in the aromas beginning to pervade. "Real coffee? And was that chocolate? The real McCoy?" A long time since she'd tasted that, had the others ever had the opportunity she wondered. "I'm pleased to meet you Eve, and you Nae, I'm Ophelia" she said quietly eyeing Nae as she took a seat on one of the foam chairs. Nothing she had heard in Joe's bar had prepared her for his reality. "I suppose the main thing we all want to know about is this number syndrome. You seem to have fixed us somehow, but we didn't get a full dose of it. Is there a permanent cure? We were told there isn't. A friend of mine was targeted with this and she's in a bad way. Can something be done to help her?"

[Synik]

Nae and Eve exchange greetings with Ophelia. Nae's voice rumbles out of the metal shell: "I can tell you of the cure. It involves searching for the compulsions within your mind, countering them and disinfecting any neuralware you have. You data plugs were alive with the rogue software." If a cyborg could puff up with pride, this one would be. "Once sourced, the meme - because that is all it is - can be removed. There is a risk of some memory loss as the phage can consume your own organic memory space."

Eve picks up from this. "This is why you don't remember coming in. You will have lost those memories as Nae fixed you." She looks pensive. "I'm sorry, it was either he operated on you or you became babbling idiots."

Nae nods. "It took many hours and you have been offline - "

Interupting Eve says "You mean asleep?"

" - Yes. Offline for 3 days," Nae continues. "while you recovered from the intervention I carried out." Nae's head swings towards Cass and Fi. "Cass, you had a tumour which I have eliminated and Fi, I fixed one of your implants that was failing. Hayden and Ophelia: you had no internal damages."

Eve fidgets on the sofa. "We've managed to trap a copy of the infection in a test system. It's some sort of cybernetic intelligence - but more an idiot savant than a personality. It is mad - not crazy mad, but mad keen - on number crunching." Eve looks to Nae but the cyborg says nothing. "We think that someone is trying to make an organic computer."

"Someone is willingly infecting people with the neuralware virus," Nae states, "and is using their mind to resolve an equation. We don't know what that equation is, as we only have a subset of the data."

Adam walks into the living area carrying a tray of drinks. There's a mug for each of you - except Nae - and three earth brown jugs on the plastic tray. A black liquid fills one, a rich creamy brown the next and the last, and smallest jug, contains a thin white fluid. "Coffee?" Adam asks. "Or hot chocolate? I'm afraid we're out of tea at the mo. The hydroponics are on the blink. At least the cow unit is working."

Eve asks for a coffee and blows the steam off it when Adam hands her an earth coloured mug. "I had a look at the ruined gun one of you had." She sips her black coffee and smiles. "It's dead and gone whatever was in there, but it worked. Do you know how many of these things there are topside?"

Nae studies the hot drinks for a moment and then seems to change its mind. "We don't have a way of tapping into the infection's mind to see what is happening. If we could do that, perhaps we could realise what the people behind this are planning."

Edited by Synik, 20 March 2009 - 12:29 PM.

[Dehoffren]

“Three days!” exclaimed Fi “Do you know how many tricks I could have turned in three days” her brow began to furrow in anger as she gazed at Nae “What do you mean one of my implants were failing, I paid good money for my extras,” her expression relented a little “Ok it was your standard Bioware outfit that done it but still” Fi nostrils flared at the sultry aroma of chocolate and immediately regressed about ten years “Ohh chocolate, I love chocolate, can I have some?” she held out her both of her hands and received a large luscious mug which she first began to sip and as the tasted coated her tongue, the sipping turned into gulping. She listened intently to Eve and Nae, although a lot of the technical stuff was way over her head “So does the same thing go for my friend Jo-Girl” she asked a chocolate brown moustache now formed over her top lip.

[Synik]

"It is a simple statement of fact: one of your muscle implants was damaged and I repaired it. It is was I do. I am a blacktech, or to be more precise: a tailor." The cyborg's tone becomes almost smug. "I helped design the original model." The show of pride is short lived as Nae's body dips slightly at the mention of others. "The surgery I performed on you all was complicated," the cyborg states. "I think with time I could perfect an anti-gen to the cybernetic infection. It will not be easy." The creature seems to be talking out loud rather than answering the question.

Eve passes Fi a tissue from the box by the sofa. "You've got a little on your lip," she says softly. "Your friends? So you only know of two more infections. Fi's friend Jo-Girl and Ophelia's friend too?" Eve looks to Ophelia. "Sorry, what did you say her name was?" Eve picks up the thin sheet of crystal and starts to write on it. "Joe said he had someone with him, a young woman." Her gaze jumps between Ophelia and Fi. "Who might that be? I asked Joe to sedate her."

Nae returns to the conversation, the chrome and steel statue's fingers twitch and move as it thinks. "I had Joe sedate the woman. It helped keep you sane."

Edited by Synik, 20 March 2009 - 10:28 PM.

[Early Bird]

Ophelia slumped back in her seat. "Three days?" she thought incredulously. "I.. er.. I'll have the hot chocolate as well please" she said, sipping it gratefully when it was passed to her, mainly to give her mind a few extra moments to assimilate this revelation. She didn't feel like she'd been out for all that time, it seemed like minutes, although she had felt awful when she woke up. "That would be my friend" she said in answer to Eve's question. "Joe said he'd look after her while we came to find you.. Her name's Sally, Sally Herald. Do you know, is she going to be ok? What did you mean by sadating her will keep us sane?" Ophelia thought for a moment as Eve mentioned only two known infected. That wasn't right, what was it. "Of course" she murmured quietly. "I saw a report recently regarding number syndrome" she said. "I only had a chance to scan it quickly but it seemed to deal with rumors in the Decker community about number syndrome, so it seems maybe there are more people infected than we realised. I think Sally and Fi's friend were the most obvious though. Have you tracked down Fi's friend by the way? What was happening with her Fi? Wasn't Winston going to go and find her?"

[Dehoffren]

Fi peered at Nae, his strangeness not bothering her in the slightest, but the idea that he was a blacktech was enthralling her. The upgrades that he was capable of were awe inspiring and Fi would happily let him tweak and twinkle with her bits and pieces to gain an advantage over other Trix. Still the fact that the numbers had vanished had helped her re-focus on the reason she was here in the first place so she pushed thoughts of gender refinement to the back of her mind. Stifling a giggle Fi accepted the tissue and began pawing at the brown stain on her lip. “Yeah he was” answered Fi through the tissue “Well that was the plan, but we haven’t heard anything since. And she sounded so scared in the message that I got, she’s probably gone to ground or considering the state she sounded in she could be…” Fi voice trailed off as she thought of the less savoury options of where Jo-Girl could b

[Synik]

Eve jostles on the sofa to get more comfortable. She holds one hand out and appears to grab thin air - she's using some type of in-the-eye menu system. They're not new. "Joe has Sally." Eve's gaze is distant as she looks on a scene only she can see. "Joe says he hasn't heard anything from Winston, but he got a blurt saying Jo-Girl was safe. Apparantly Winston's disappeared but some of his decker friends took Jo in. They're laying low somewhere."

"The decker community?" Nae repeats. Eyes fall on him, but the cyborg says nothing more.

Eve sips her drink and with a wave of her hand, displaces the invisible menus. "But how can that be? We saw the weapon, it's not yet a fully fledged virus. Even in the Last War, things like that would burn out - or burn out the host - before they could evolve. I - " Eve winces - "or rather Adam Senior's memories show me this."

Nae stops thinking and states. "Deckers: all of them have data plugs and they have sharp minds: ideal candidates if you wanted a good source of biology computing power." The machine dips its head. "If you wanted power, there would be little point in targeting those who's neural faculties have been damaged." The robotic head moves to the left and right in a grim nod. "It is a harsh and brutal truth." The machine rocks on its four legs. "We need to see inside this infection. The fact that I cannot view the internals of this puzzle is most infuriating."

Eve looks to Ophelia. "Where did you say you read this report? Was it a file or a physical thing?" Her head tips reminding you of a curious bird you saw in a stim programme. "Do you think you could get it for us?"

[currymaniac]

Hayden was amazed by this place, he had never seen anything like it. The smell of chocolate - real chocolate, not the crap he was used to, this smelt luxurious - drifted into his nose and he was tempted more than he ever imagined he could be by it, but he resisted, he needed to seem strong, and he was afraid that sipping hot chocolate was not the way to go for that. He took coffee, black, with no sugar, despite shuddering at each sip because of the bitterness. He listened intently, not bothering to introduce himself, after all they seemed to know his name anyway. "I wonder if whoever is doing this knows the identity of all those they've infected," he said aloud, though he was really talking to himself, "If so maybe they'll be monitoring the city to see how it progresses, and if they think that some have been cured somehow they might try and either reinfect them or capture them for investigation."

[Synik]

"An excellent thought," Nae replies. "How did you get infected?"

[Early Bird]

"I didn't say" replied Ophelia to Eve's question. "But I read about it in a hard copy report I found in a desk drawer. I only had time for a quick look as I wasn't supposed to be there and someone came in. A man named Colin Hopton and someone else. I had to get away, but they were discussing the report so they had to be involved with it. In fact we found out just before we were brought here that Hopton was responsible for having Sally and.. Jo Girl? infected. I've wished ever since that I'd had a chance to bring that report away with me, but it might still be there, I could go back for it". Ophelia turned to include Nae in her explanation. "We were accidents as far as I know. We were all in Joe's bar when some kind of experimental weapon blew up and we all got caught in the blast."

[fury]

[color=#6666CC;]"Yeah, just lucky I guess,"[/color] Cass shrugged and pointed at the hot chocolate, mouthing thanks to Adam. [color=#6666CC;]"A tumour you say? In the head? Would explain those belter of headaches i've been getting recently,"[/color] she shrugged [color=#6666CC;]"I suppose I'd better say thanks."[/color]

[Synik]

"No thanks required," Nae replies levelly. The robotic head swings slowly toward Ophelia. "This Hopton person seems key. It is a shame we do not have him here." There's a clicker-clack of metal implements as one of Nae's arms bristles with medical tools.

Eve shudders. "Please don't do that again. I feel like someone tipped ice down my back." Regaining her composure, Eve asks "So Hopton had your friends infected? I'm sorry to hear that. We'll do what we can when we find them." She toys with her cup. "Any idea what your next move is?"