Noblesse Oblige [Chs. I & II -- Conference Room]

[AmusingSN]

The Conference Room

(Reply here with In-Character posts taking place in the Conference Room)

Conference Room
http://www.systemsdesigngroup.net/photos/Conference-Room.jpg

The conference room is available for Collaborative members to meet and brainstorm, plot, scheme, discuss any subjects relating to the underwater residence prototype project.

There are powdered jelly donuts on the table.

Synopsis Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177504)
OOC Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176320)

[ZombieLordDemus]

Dr.Watts is scribbling on papers awaiting for the others to arrive. A few donuts are already missing, and his venti Astral-Doe latte still steaming. The room is fill with a pleasant Caramel/Chocolate smell.

"Good news, everybody"

Waving his arm across the table like some grand wizard. Only revealing the 6 pack of Astral-Doe coffees, that are individually marked as Caramel, white chocolate, or decaf (2 of each). Pleased with himself he whispers something to "personal assistant", and she scampers off.


http://aronparker.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Anthony-Robbins-interview-with-Frank-Kern-and-John-Reese.jpg

[Daimbert]

Karen Smith walks in just as Watts fires off his comment about there being good news.

"Good news?" she asks, lingering momentarily over the donuts before making a show of resolve and not taking one. She sits in a seat a few seats away from Watts.

[VolV]

Entered the room after a bit after Karen "Great I am not the last on- are those donuts?" he said really quickly as he found himself a place to sit on the other side of the table in front of Dr.Watts "Did someone say something about good news?"

[feeddannow]

There was a clatter at the door, and a half-muted stream of swearing just outside the conference room - a short pause - and then the double doors were pushed open by the ample backside of M.A.Y.U.K.O. (Patrick's beautiful, but pretty awkward robotic "assistant"). Grumbled, muttered swears under his breath - to those with the keener of ears might have made out "... next time, she'll have arms that bloody well open doors..."

Patrick's laden down with several long tubes, what look like they might hold blueprints or design plans for any number of things, and he has to maintain a sort of balancing act in order to navigate through the doors past Mayuko and into the room - which he just manages to do. And then, seeing the donuts and coffee he lost concentration and sent the tubes sprawling again... "Ooh Donu- oh ****..."

Instead of picking them up he just sort of herded them over to his seat. It was always his seat, that one, there. Every where he went, the robotic girl mutely followed, watching, her perfect hair seeming to glitter dangerously in the fluorescent overhead light.

Now she stood behind his chair as he adjusted its height - frowning, had someone touched his chair? He hated that... oh well, it was business time, and nothing for it...


"Watts, there a Caramel left? Great... slide it this way Baby. You know, I might actually take 12 steps if there was one of these at the beginning of each meeting. Probably not though. Well looks like I beat P2* here... that's something anyway. You guys ready to storm some serious Brain?"


Patrick always refered to Patrick Sullivan as P2, except to his face, where it was always Mr. Sullivan.

[ZombieLordDemus]

" BRAIN LIGHTNING!"

"er... I mean, yes lets brain storm a bit. And Patrick, yes i always bring caramel coffee to those meeting."
Lifting his Venti Caramel Mega Espresso Latte.

[feeddannow]

"... Right. Well, I brought some sketches I've been working on, I assume you've all been just as hard at work as I've been," said Patrick in tones that were clear that he doubted this was the case at all. He reached down and picked up one of the tubes, popped open the end and took out the blue draft paper that was rolled up inside.

Minding the coffee and donuts, he unrolled it onto the table. It revealed a plan for a fairly simple looking dome-like structure, and inside the dome four smaller buildings. The dome's center was taken up by a large tube. The central tube was composed of a series of airlocks and looked to have some interesting pneumatics at work.

"... Yeah, I know - underwater dome, it's hacky, I get it. Don't look at me like that, you all know as well as I do that when someone wants to spend money on an underwater colony, they want a big ****-off dome. Nevermind the fact that a single free-standing building or arcology would be more effecient and leave less of a footprint... not to mention that they'll probably want it made to be translucent or glass or something ridiculous... it's domes all day for those people!"

He looked around the table for a little sympathy.

[VolV]

Adam quickly jumped over the table to take a closer look to the blueprint, while trying to clean the powdered sugar from his fingers. "I say, As far as I know this might be something that might work for this" he said reassuring what Patrick was showing "but... a biodome might be too dangerous to make, last night I saw a documentary about Abyssal creatures and I saw this big sharks that lived down there, they are like ten times the size of the friendly normal sharks!" he looked a bit nervous

"But who knows maybe I am worrying a bit too much, I am always a bit twitchy..." he nervously laughed as he took his seat again as he searched for his notepad in his backpack and started to write or draw things on it, in the way he was doing it, it was kinda impossible to tell the difference.

[Daimbert]

Karen studied the blueprints a bit, and said, "Yeah, they'll probably want the domes to be clear ... but that doesn't mean that it has to glass. We should be able to tweak our metals or metal contents to get strong, transparent plates over those domes."

She then looked over at Adam, "And if we do that, that should take care of those sharks, too."

She then addressed everyone else again, "And it would be such a lovely view if we could get transparent metallic domes. I'll have to see what I can do."

[feeddannow]

Patrick frowned, "Well two problems there... the first one is what I call 'the fishbowl dillemma'. You look like the sort of person, Karen, to have - at one point - owned a fish. A great big sucker-faced goldfish. Am I right?"

Without pausing for her to answer, he continued "Well... you ever notice how they keep bumping up against the glass? Too retarded to notice that the glass was blocking their attempts at freedom? Now imagine that the fishbowl is reversed - and now you have giant sharks or plesiosaurs that don't have all that sophisticated hardware as your average porpoise. That's gonna be a bigger bump."

He held up a second finger, "Numero two, almost the same problem - but for our average joe. We gotta keep it down to the more mundane materials ... or else we're gonna have the Goldfish dillemma in reverse... with the first smart-alec who thinks its a good idea to polish up the ol' dome and sets the whole thing wonky."

He sighed, dreamily wishing that the humans of the planet were less likely to make everything good blow up with their ignorant fingers.

[ZombieLordDemus]

" I'm 100% behind it. This "fish bowl" would need to be more metal then... "glass"... And we certainly wouldn't want any yokels messing with our superior technological skills."

Crossing his fingers and leaning back in his chair.

[VolV]

"Well... if you put it that way... maybe we should put cameras on the outside and monitors in the inside so it looks like glass but it has various layers of metal in between" he said as he continued to draw "The only problem might be the pressure and the fact that there is little to no light there depending of how far down we are talking." he said putting his notepad down "The only problem might be perception as people might be terrorized by the 50 foot hermit crab walking about, or things getting stuck to the cameras."

[Daimbert]

Karen Smith

Karen replied, "No, I never had a goldfish; I prefer kitties. But even that's taught me that if you want to keep animals away from things, all you have to do is put up a fence or something so that when they go near the thing you don't want them to do, something bad happens. Then they stop going near it. So some kind of, say, sonic fence should do the trick. Even one with a mild electric shock would work. But if it came down to it, we could make it one-way transparent.

"And as for the people on the inside, we'd have to make it tough enough to withstand anything they could do to it, in case of accidents, so I'm not too worried about them doing something out of the ordinary. That would leave actual sabotage, but who'd want to do that?"

[feeddannow]

"The goddamned NAZIS that's who!" He said with a little toooo much conviction, and upon hearing "Nazis" the robotic bodyguard behind him seem to perk up ever so slightly - though it was hard to tell from her vacant expression. Composing himself, and staring into the coffee for a moment, the words hung in the air.

"Personally, I say we sink the dome - right into the sargasso itself - those big overgrown seaweeds will provide us with camo from the fish that are to stupid not to hit glass and provide some protection from anyone who might try to goose-step all over our parade." He pointed at the diagramed dome, "We could install some periscope devices - and of course, some standard sonar - and that should be sufficient for your basic detections..."

[Daimbert]

Karen looked at Patrick oddly for a second, and then said, "It'd be nice to have at least some backup integrity fields or something in case of an accident, so if we make them strong enough we won't have to worry about those Nazis."

She said "Nazis" in the same sort of tone that a parent would say "boogeymen" to a small child.

She continued, "But we really don't want to be TOO camoflauged; we really do have to be able to see what's going on and if we're going to bring people in and out, as well as supplies, people have to be able to see us."

[VolV]

"Actually, I would be more worried of something less maniacal, like other companies and hippies... But.. Instead of a vehicle that comes and goes, i'd say an elevator might be a better idea, but if we are going to such depths, I would totally discard the dome idea, there is almost no light there and something as bright as a bio dome... might catch the attention of most fishes... and Nazis" he shrugged a bit after saying that,

[ZombieLordDemus]

Leans forward, and looks as if in DEEP thought.

"Sargasso sea. So, the proto-city shall be New Sargasso. The elevator can be a yellow submarine on a track, to give it a more family feel. It'll be attached to a man made island. And for the hippies, just call it a multicultural bio~dome... Even if we make it a solid square block, but I do like the Dome idea. "

Pausing to take a big gulp.

" We could make up sea monsters or legends. Like The Sargasso Ogre. Though the "kitty fence" sounds nice, it'll have long term damage to the ecology. The sonic and or electric fences would drive away the bottom of the food chain. Which we'll be using for our own food, and possible export. Remember, this is a grand business opportunity. More export, less import. So a fully self contained biosphere is ideal. "

Sits back and ponders a bit.

[Daimbert]

Karen Smith

Karen pondered for a moment, and then said, "If we're really deep, you're gonna need a lot of really strong metal to make an elevator that long that can stand up to the pressure and to anything that might hit it, and if, say, a baby Beluga and her mommy come smashing around it, we'd be cut off if that was our main transportation system. An elevator can't ride out storms, but real subs can. We're not Decepticons, you know, and the cost of all that metal's gonna make the corp's head explode, let alone adding everything else to it."

"As for the sonic or electric fences, I'm not an engineer or a biologist, but we do things like that here, so we should be able to come up with something that won't hurt the fishies but will keep them away.

"The legends idea is okay, but it never works on Scooby-Doo ... "

[feeddannow]

Patrick busily scrawls over his original schematic with his white pencil, "We can take the central spire here, and instead of it being a series of airlocks - it could be an elevator... leading to a more-or-less stationary floating thing up above... maybe the greeting center? If that's the case, then we could also have some sort of signal and security relays there..."

He began drawing furiously - erasing, scratching out, overwriting his own work as the others pitched ideas, mumbling aloud "...so then its like a dome and we could have the floating platform up above be tethered here... ... Yellow Submarine? No no no, no good... Yellow makes people nervous... We gotta make it look cutting edge, too - How about a slick bathosphere... Hmm... if we can't make the kitty fence... maybe some underwater scarecrows? Could be a thought - something simple..."

He looked up, aware that he had become lost in thought and forgot about the people around him - something he was prone to doing when he was onto something.

"Karen's right... can't have mommy whale and kid become Japanese Bento Box lunches because of our elevator... better make it a pair of bathospheres, don't need to tether 'em at all ... just make some docking stations here and here..."

Even as he's talking, Patrick's sketching out a pair of spherical "bathospheres" that look more like something out of the Apple catalog. Given another set of circumstances, they might even be called "iBaths". They look like they'd be big enough to seat 4 people or so and a pilot. Kind of pretty in a sleek overdone way - save for what is probably a laser or something jutting out from the sides.

[VolV]

"Shouldn't them be bigger, so they can hold more things like provisions and food and broken equipment and waste and human beings and air tanks...." he said as he looked at the small bathosphere "... other than that I totally agree.... I wonder what Mr.S will think of this" he clapped a bit.

[feeddannow]

"Ah! Hmm... Yes! That's right... the Bathospheres would just be for the tourists and personnel comings and goings... we could hmm..." He began sketching something, and having had run out of room on the draft paper, he started drawing on the donut box.

"Removing stuff from the dome would be easy enough - just send it up in a container with enough bouyancy to make it pop up to the top, so long as the container is pressurized, shouldn't give anyone riding along inside the bends or something nasty like that... We could rig a guide-line up to the floating platform up above..."

He began doodling what are basically some glorified shipping containers with some inflatable buoys and a hook for attaching to a guidewire. The boxes were bigger and bulkier than the bathospheres, but still managed to look polished on paper. One could imagine a touch-screen interface somewhere in there, probably to control the laser that is also protruding from the side of the proposed box.

[AmusingSN]

Patrick Sullivan
http://static.tvfanatic.com/images/gallery/jack-donaghy.jpg

Overkill
http://www.bodyguard-training.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/bodyguards-training.jpg

Patrick Sullivan enters the Conference Room by way of the Recreation Room (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177508). He glances to Overkill and then turns his stern attention to the gathered Geniuses. "Don't get alarmed, this is my bodyguard, not the escaped gorilla that is apparently on the loose somewhere in this neighborhood. Either that, or the gorilla has become a master of disguise."

Patrick examines Overkill again, more closely this time.

Overkill merely grunts, apeishly, in response.

"Well," Patrick concludes, "I suppose it makes no difference really." He turns his full attention back to the Geniuses. "I hope you're all working on my undersea headquarters?"

[feeddannow]

Patrick (the angry-nerdy one, not the slick-haired man with the ape-ish bodyguard) didn't look up, "I've never known a Gorilla that wore a suit... or at least one so badly tailored..."

Melton was a runt, and any chance he got - he liked to poke at things bigger than him. He smiled, thinking that he shared a moment there with the other Patrick. Comrades ganging up on the big palooka. It wasn't until he finally looked up and noticed Sullivan's expression that he wiped the smile off of his face and tore off the lid of the donut box that he was conceptualizing upon.

"Yeah... steaming right along. Picture this.." he framed his hands in the air, suggestively, "...you disembark from your sweet-ass yacht onto this surface station, all glistening chrome and plastic, swept corners, a laser battery here blasting at the Nazis that are hot on your trail... "

Patrick jumped up from his chair, getting excited in his own narration. "Pew! Pew! You dive for cover... and press the simple touch screen interface that opens up the docking station here... and you get inside the security of your own personal Bathosphere. You're safe, encapsulated comfortably in your titanium and plasteel chamber - able to compose your thoughts as the calm waters of the Sargasso and their forest of kelp hide you from view as you sink further down... down... into a clearing in the weeds."

He gestured to the large dome outline that they had been working on since the start of the meeting, "... and there, a shining beacon at the bottom of the sea, lies Sargasso One. Glittering dome, bristling with the latest in cutting edge defenses and technology - a secure and self-sufficient fortress..."

[AmusingSN]

Patrick Sullivan considers for a few moments, than he nods. "I haven't been pursued by Nazis since my time as a corporate lawyer in the employ of Mercedes-Benz. But I suppose old scores could be settled at some point." Whether or not he is being serious is impossible to tell, his grip on reality is pretty damned loose. "There should be a helicopter pad as well. And I need wi-fi for my Android." Hopefully, he is referring to his phone.

By the look on Overkill's face, it appears he is calculating the exact pressure required to make Patrick Merton's nerdy head explode like a watermelon at a Gallagher show.

http://www.juneauempire.com/images/051806/13659_500.jpg

[feeddannow]

"Android huh? I got one too... no wireless though, kept making her eyes blink funny colors. But hey, women, right?" He laughed again at his unfunny joke at MAYUKO's expense. On the bright side, she didn't have enough personality to be offended.

Patrick made notes and put little tic marks next to them:

1) Laser Battery for Nazi Deterrant
2) Wi-Fi
3) Heli-Pad

and then, satisfied, he looked up "You want the real italian leather in the Bathospheres?" Patrick looked pleased, sensing that Sullivan was on his side and that things were finally going his way.

[AmusingSN]

"Italian Leather?" Patrick Sullivan looked wistful, his thoughts going back to that very rare couch he had picked up at a market during his time in Germany, or at least that was how he remembered it. Then he shook his head, snapping out of his reverie. "No no, cow leather will be fine, PETA be damned."

[ZombieLordDemus]

"The surface station shall be a man made island. A resort with sandy white beaches, golf course...A personal heaven. Something that all those people who go to Camp~Life would also go to. "

Sits pondering on how to turn this into something all about BRAIN LIGHTING. Then with his hands, the international gesture for money.

" Of course those who play nice and have deep pockets could maybe buy their way into our undersea playhouse."

With a super villain chuckle, composes himself.

[feeddannow]

"Golf Course? You'll NEVER get that past the eco-freaks... all the pesticides and whatnot... turning their precious fishy-wishy friends green and ****. No offense. Beach Volleyball, that's where its at!" Patrick said authoritatively. In his mind of minds, sport was something that was always best to be watched. And he had no patience for golf. The thought of beach-volleyball, however, was enough to make him have several new ideas for Mayuko's next upgrades.

"What do you think, Mr. Sullivan? Is it a go?"

[AmusingSN]

"Of course its not a go. You people are lunatics. Just make me an underwater base, accessible by mini-submarine. This is a prototype here. I plan on using it myself after its been demonstrated as proof of concept. Keep it simple." Patrick Sullivan turns and moves to face one of the flat screen monitors, gazing deeply into it as if he is brooding out a window.

"We need to win the final contract, or this will lose your investors, namely me, quite a bit of money. Don't screw this up."

Overkill cracks his knuckles.

"Overkill, I thought you made an appointment to see an arthritis specialist."

Overkill shakes his head, and looks down ashamed.

Patrick Sullivan looks to the Geniuses with a sigh. "So big and scary, and yet he's afraid of hospitals."

[feeddannow]

"Hmph." Simple? He wants simple? We are the greatest minds on this side of the planet, our prowess knows no simple bounds - even the very laws of physics tremble and bow at our advanced knowing... and he wants an upside-down fishbowl and a toy submarine.... Patrick seethed quietly, though it would have been hard to mistake his facial expression for anything short of unhappy.

"Well you you want simple, we could spray on some waterproofing on a tarp, stake it down and caulk the outside with watertight sealant... Fine, fine whatever. We'll figure it out. No wi-fi androids then? Just checking..."

The seething, bitter man began erasing some of the schematic and re-drawing it in a much more dumbed down way, something he assumed that even a lesser evolved primate could use without damaging too seriously. He looked on at Overkill and then corrected his own thought, well most primates.

[AmusingSN]

Patrick Sullivan sighs again. "Wi-Fi isn't necessary. We can add things like that after the prototype is completed. We need to get this done before those defense contract bully boys at General Dynamics or those Red Communists from China get theirs underway."

Patrick looks around. "Where's Kean? She's the only one with any management sense in the bunch of you. Get her on this project, Merton, or I swear I'll hold you personally responsible for every cent you lose me."

Overkill cracks his knuckles again.

Patrick looks over. "The arthritis is really acting up, huh?"

Overkill shakes his head, "No, that time I was trying to be intimidating."

Patrick nods. "Right, sorry."

[VolV]

"Well, now that this answers my previous questions... " he says and then sighs " Well it makes me wonder why to make something so simple, but i know the answer anyway, we should remove the elevator and the many other cool things we put in it" he grabbed his note pad again and started to write in it again "Maybe we should make it Under water and Under ground making it both Safe and anti-shark." he said while writing about it.

[ZombieLordDemus]

Turning his frown into an amused smirk. Throwing both hands into the air.

" Brain lightning. I got it. For something simple... A bent slab of whatever, Metal or 20 foot thick glass... I'd prefer something slick white and sterile. Anyways! One air tight building with everything a person could need.

Looks over to Overkill, then reaches into his suitcase. Pulling out his book "Brain Lightning and natural healing". Signing the book as his continues.

" A hospital wing, a submarine docking bay, a water purifier, and sewage dump... whatever. Inside the dome, but out of the Sullivan building, shall be the farm. Varies orchards, crops and designed to look like a park. For when you get sick of being ... um.. inside. A little community out there to take care of it."

Slide the book towards Overkill's general area and looks around the table.

"Simple and effective... after we win, we'll add everything we want."

[feeddannow]

Sulking, Patrick thumped the table, "Why don't we just send those other two bidders copies of BRAIN LIGHTNING... and we can just steamroll our competition while they all take naps?" He pushed back his chair and stood up, and nodded to MAYUKO.

Oddly, the robotic girl had not taken her dead eyes off of Overkill since the moment he entered the room. Something about her seemed dangerous for a moment - but nothing came of it.

"I'm out - I'll send in Kean if I see her. If you need me, I'll be preparing my Waaagh!" and Melton disappeared from the conference room, his android right behind him. As he hit the hallway, it sounded as if he were making a call on his iPhone to his beholden, and headed towards the Rec Room.

[ZombieLordDemus]

" Waaagghhh? Children... tsk tsk. So what do you think Mr.Sullivan? Simple... exactly what we need to win and leaves room for improvement after."

[AmusingSN]

"Yes, that's exactly what I'd like. I like winning, and I like undersea bachelor pads. But the best part will be when Richard Branson eats his heart out!" Patrick Sullivan glows with glee.

[VolV]

"That is a nice idea right there Mr.S, winning, it's obvious that the competition didn't have a chance" he stood up and laughed manically for some seconds as he started to walk to the window as he said "Now that if that is settled with, when are we gonna start with the construction and such" he said as he booted up his image amplification device and started to peer out the window for his obvious invisible enemies

[AmusingSN]

"As soon as you all settle on a design and requisition the materials needed." Patrick Sullivan squints at Adam. "Adam, if that is your real name, how old are you? Why are you even sitting in on this meeting? Shouldn't you be out at a Jonas Brothers concert or something?"

Patrick Sullivan looks around the room wondering why Kean skipped out on this aimless brainstorm session.

[Daimbert]

Karen finally spoke up; she didn't care much for Sullivan's attitude, and didn't have much to say about his proposed changes, so she'd been keeping quiet.

"We're probably going to have to redesign new metals/glasses for the dome; I don't think anything we've got now could handle the pressure and stand up to the salt water for as long as this is supposed to last."

[VolV]

He continued to see outside the window as he said "Yes I am Adam, i am 16 and I am in this meeting room because if I was not in it, I would be working with dynamics, making your life hell, because I am as good or better than anyone in this room" he then turned around and sat again on the meeting room "... And the Jonas brothers are the enemies of the human race, Well, I just don't like them."

[ZombieLordDemus]

Sitting quietly wondering how Zaloom deals with kids all day.

" 10ft of good old man made plastic, then a few feet metal. Metal is expensive. Then another 10ft plastic... Cheap cost effective plastic. 5 feet of the outer shell can have man made holes and whatnots. So Coral may grow on it, giving us a more "home grown" camouflage and preserving the ecology there. Letting us have great P.R. if need be. And where ever we put the mini-sub docking bay is where our pressure regulating equipment will go. Any other questions? ...oh... Mr.Sullivan, Adam is a valued member team member. Not a Justin Bieber stand in. "

Dr.Watts' face quickly make the classic "Did i just actually say that" look.

[AmusingSN]

"New kinds of metals and glasses? Sounds like there could be money in that. You should head up that project Karen. I see real management potential in you."

Patrick Sullivan looks to Adam again. "Sixteen? That's right, you're the Doogie Howser kid. Well why don't you help Karen with the new metals and glasses or whatever it is she's got cooking."

Then he looks to Doctor Watts. "I know you're busy and all, but before I go there is one more thing. My real estate development corporation is holding a retreat at the end of next month and I'm wondering if you could come speak. I have to fire half of them, so I need something to raise the morale of the others."

[ZombieLordDemus]

"Of course Mr.Sullivan."

[AmusingSN]

# Storyteller Note #

(Time has advanced in the scene, and this scene has reset. See the Synopsis Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177504) for more details)

# End Storyteller Note #

A work station has been set up in the Conference Room by Shane Keenan. You could find him in his office if you have any questions about it, but he'll likely not be too helpful since he's "on lunch break."

The work station is connected directly to the Pax Scientia Boston Office intra-net log-in server, and is currently monitoring hacking attempts from an outside party or parties.

[ZombieLordDemus]

Dr.Watts plops himself down in front of the work station, enjoying his lunch. Then it dons on him...
"Where the heck is everyone?"

[ZombieLordDemus]

(sorry for the double post... )

http://garyengels.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/tony-robbins1.jpg

[AmusingSN]

There is an attempt to hack into the intra-net going on right now. The workstation makes an appropriate "beep" sound, alerting anyone in the conference room of the ongoing event.

A Wits + Computer check at a -5 dice penalty for difficulty, and a +1 bonus for equipment (total modifier: -4 dice) can be rolled in an attempt to gather information about the intruder.

[ZombieLordDemus]

"What the hell is this? Linux!?"

Hot Damn Wit+Computers-4=0 so its up to the 1 die of Critical Botchyness 1d10=4 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2796220/)

And FAIL... at least its not BOTCh

[AmusingSN]

It's very hard to track the hacking attempt. The hackers are using "zombie machines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_computer)" and are themselves hidden behind layer after layer of proxy servers. Dr. Watts is sure of only one thing. The log-in server isn't running just any old linux. No no, its running Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/)!

[ZombieLordDemus]

"I can do this! I am the great and powerful Dr.Watts! "

[AmusingSN]

Contrary to his own self-help advice, Dr. Watts does not appear to have the right stuff.

[ZombieLordDemus]

Ever so vigil Dr.Watts glues his attention to the screen. Waiting for the chance to hunt his new enemy... as he slowly goes over the 12 steps of BRAIN LIGHTNING TM

[Fishy]

Talia shoves open the conference room door with the wrath of a tiny and badly-dressed angry god. "SULLIVAN! I've had it about up to HERE with your constant... Oh."

She takes a moment to adjust her collar. "Right. That never happened."

"Is that the new workstation? Mind if I have a crack at it, Dr. Watts?"

[ZombieLordDemus]

" YEs! Take Over this Blasted machine... "

Pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I've had enough of zombies for one day"

Very gentleman like he pulls the chair out for her...

[AmusingSN]

There is another attempt to hack into the intra-net going on right now. The workstation makes an appropriate "beep" sound, alerting everyone in the conference room of the ongoing event.

A Wits + Computer check at a -5 dice penalty for difficulty, and a +1 bonus for equipment (total modifier: -4 dice) can be rolled in an attempt to gather information about the intruder.

[Fishy]

Talia takes the offered chair, and boots up the GUI that Shane set up to monitor the login system. She plays with it for a few moments, and then checks over her shoulder to make sure no one is coming in the door.

"Right. This never happened either," she says, taking a pair of glasses and a rubber band out of her pocket. She pulls most of her hair back, dons the glasses, and then enters a few quick commands that replace the soft, humanist Ubuntu earthtones and rounded corners into bare green-on-black text, in courier font.

Wits 2 + Computer 2 + 'Hacking' 1 - 4 = 1 Dice, but Talia is going to spend two Mania to squeeze some extra oomph out of the computer, and a point of Willpower.

[roll0] + [roll1]

[roll2]

[AmusingSN]

Talia determines that the zombie computers are being herded through an Internet Relay Chat channel. She monitors traffic there, and begins unraveling a web of forced proxies. She eventually gets a handful of IP addresses of likely culprits, the most likely of which is in nearby Taunton.

Getting the actual physical address will require social engineering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_(security)), as the IP address is hosted by Roadrunner, and they are bound by their privacy policy not to divulge such information without court orders.

Alternatively, you could try to hack the computer associated with the IP address, but the person running it is obviously very good.

[Fishy]

Bah. Who needs social engineering when you've got Wonders?

If I've got an IP address, it's a pretty simple matter for an Apokalypsi 1 device to connect directly to it- and an Epikrato 1 device to hijack it.

Connect: Intelligence 5 + Computer 2 + 'Hacking' 1 = 8 Dice
[roll0] = 4 Successes

Write-Access: Intelligence 5 + Computer 2 + 'Hacking' 1 + Core Modifier 2 = 10 Dice
[roll1] = 3 Successes

[roll2]

Talia plops her PDA onto the table next to the workstation, and continues typing at a meaninglessly fast speed, with one hand on the keyboard and the other working the neon runes of her touchscreen. "I take it you don't often work with computers, Dr. Watts? You should give it a try- I've read your book, and you'd be surprised how much overlap there is in the area of non-polynomial problem solving with probabilistic Turing-equivalent devices..."

Might need to borrow some Mania from you, ZombieLordDemus. Mind spouting some technobabble at me?

[AmusingSN]

Talia has more trouble than she could have ever imagined as she attempts to connect. There is no mundane computer security that could be a match for her wonders, and yet here she was, encountering what amounted to the firewall equivalent of a steel reinforced concrete wall. There was only one explanation, as far as Talia's personal experience could fathom ... Science!

Talia has encountered what can only be a Prostasia-based "Data Security" device which applies a 8 dice penalty to her attempts to access data on the offending hacker's system. This has resulted in a failure to connect on her first attempt.

[Fishy]

Green text flashes orange, then red, and both of Talia's computers start emitting distressing beeping noises. "What on earth..."

Talia attempts to analyze the wonder protecting the bad guys' computer.

Wits 2 + Inspiration 2 + Wonder 1 = 5 Dice.
[roll0] = Zero successes. Nice.

[AmusingSN]

She is uncertain about its nature.

[Fishy]

Talia takes a moment to fill Watts in: "They have some pretty intense security- I don't think we're dealing with mundane hackers here, but I can't tell any more than that."

"Oh, if only I had an army of zombie computers equipped with password-breaking algorithms," she adds with feigned remorse, grinning and typing furiously.

Talia logs back in to one of the compromised computers, and from there to the IRC botnet command center- where she pays very close attention to how the zombies are controlled. Is it something she can hijack?

[ZombieLordDemus]

"Hrmmm...so are we gonna have to make a computer that acts like 1,000 Zombies that breaks codes? Sounds fun. "

[Fishy]

"True, but I was thinking we could just take theirs. Safe us a lot of effort, if I can get it to work..."

[AmusingSN]

Talia can attempt to seize control of the zombie computer herd, but doing so will require intuitive knowledge of scripting and decryption.

Talia can roll Intelligence + Computers + 2 dice (equipment bonus) - 4 dice (difficulty) to take control of the botnet on a code level.

If she instead simply wishes to seize control of the IRC channel, she could shut the botnet down temporarily, which she can probably easily do with her wonders, but she wouldn't gain control of all the zombies that way.

[Fishy]

Fortunately, Talia has an intuitive knowledge of scripting and decryption. If perhaps no actual knowledge of scripting or decryption.

Intelligence 5 + Computers 2 + 'Hacking' 1 + Equipment 2 - Difficulty 4 = 6 dice.

Momma needs a new pair of shoes: [roll0] = 1 Success! Yay!

[AmusingSN]

Talia seizes control of the botnet IRC channel, for now. She can direct the bots temporarily.

[Fishy]

Right- how big is the equipment bonus from the botnet? Can Talia use it just for hacking, or could it give her some sort of bonus to a kitbashing attempt?

[AmusingSN]

The botnet will give you a +2 equipment bonus to hacking rolls, and to rolls to annoy people by sending them spam mail and the like.

[Fishy]

Talia throws her fists into the air as computers all over the world snap to attention at her command. "Yes! It worked! I haven't had this much fun in years," she cackles, leaning in close to her screen and clattering computational commands to her zombie hordes.

My plan was to borrow a point of Dr. Watts' Mania, but it looks like ZLD isn't around right now. But hey, Genius is all about doing stupid things for Science!

Talia attempts to hack the hackers again, using her zombie horde. Furthermore, she's going to enhance the zombie horde by spending two points of Mania- one of which is hers, and the other comes from Deep Inspiration. Muaha.

Intelligence 5 + Computer 2 + 'Hacking' 1 + Equipment 2 + Mania 2 - Prostasia 8 = 4 Dice
+ [rollv Maniacal Bonus]2d10

[roll1]

[roll2]

[Fishy]

Hooray! Still have to roll those bonus dice, though, because there's a chance that she'll wreck her toys.

[roll0]

[AmusingSN]

Talia gains access to the hacker's computer. It appears to be a computer-wonder located somewhere in Boston. From the arcanely archaic style of the operating system, she guesses that this is some sort of Lemurian device.

[Fishy]

"Aaaand, we're in!" Flush with victory, Talia loots and pillages the Lemurian machine, looking for its equivalent of an email inbox. Or telegram deposit, or whatever the snakes are using this decade. Who have they been communicating with, and has anything interesting been said?

[ZombieLordDemus]

"Brian Lightning! good when we find em. We shall give em a good ball busting. "