Richard's Index

Cool Regime Change -- Session Log 6/29/03

"Spider, Spider, Burning Bright"

Game Master: Richard McCluney

Jerry is called for a mission. He goes to see his supervisor, and East Indian-looking man named Drachir (dark hair, dark eyes, light brown skin, shorter than average, light build). Three other field Operatives attend the meeting: Hojo, a Science Op, Charles, Tech Op (dirty blond hair, green eyes, fair complexion, tall, strong build), and Ginger, Security Op (red hair in a ponytail, light complexion with freckles, average height, lean, athletic build). Charles and Ginger have extensive combat training in addition to their specialties. Charles has military and government contacts. Ginger has a reputation for being fanatical in combat -- when in doubt, blow it up.

Drachir tells them they have a delicate situation on their hands. A possible alien artifact has been sighted in a very public place -- the Library of Congress. A couple of library employees may have seen it. It's reported to be a glowing ball that floats around.

The Operatives discuss possible cover stories. They kick around the idea of saying the artifact is a movie prop, a cover-up often used by the Company. Jerry suggests they could say they're searching the Library for a lost diary of one of the Founding Fathers, perhaps Thomas Jefferson. The other Operatives will act like aides and a cameraman. Hojo and Jerry exchange jokes.

They will need to fly to DC from the local branch office. The office is near Bavarian State University, where Hojo works at his "day job." BSU is in the mountains near Roanoke, Virginia, just west of the Shenandoah Valley. Charles can take them to DC in one of the "black" helicopters. Standard equipment includes a cell phone and a laptop with a cellular modem. Instead of fancy encryption techniques, the Company uses "plain talk" codes that make Company business sound like ordinary things -- the possible artifact at the LOC is referred to as the "Jefferson diary," for instance. [GM note: this is rarely referred to in the game and won't appear much in the notes -- it is just assumed that the Operatives do it as a matter of course.] The Operatives are issued pistols made of TL8 materials that won't show up on metal detectors or X-ray machines.

The flight to Washington goes smoothly, except for a slight problem with the helicopter's GPS. Jerry uses his laptop to do an Internet search. He finds nothing about the GPS. There does seem to be higher-than-average UFO reports in the area, some of the sort that the company thinks might be "real." The Internet itself seems to be running slower than normal. The operatives discuss what might be going on. A number of satellites seem to be having signal problems.

The helicopter arrives in the DC area. A car is waiting for them. Ginger drives. They get to the Library of Congress and go to the reception area. They get permission to go into the archives and examine a recently-acquired, still-uncataloged collection of early 19th century works that Jerry claims may include a missing Thomas Jefferson diary. A security guard will accompany them.

The archives are not that clean, so Hojo wears a filter mask. The 19th-century collection is in a different part of the library than the artifact sighting. They try to fast-talk the guard into letting them into the other part of the library, but he resists. Ginger surprises him and knocks him out. She and Charles conceal the guard behind a stack of boxes to sleep it off.

They go to the place where the artifact was seen. There's nothing there at first glance. They look for signs that something has been tampered with. They notice that one of the crates has been left open. The crate contains school books written in the Cherokee language. Hojo notices a loose ceiling tile. Jerry climbs up and looks. He can see light from another loose ceiling tile not too far away. They don't know how to get there through the hallways -- the quickest way would be to climb around inside the ceiling. Jerry does so, hanging from the rafters inside the ceiling. Ginger follows. Charles stays down to figure out how to get there through the hallways.

Jerry and Ginger reach the second loose tile. The light seems to be coming from a computer screen. Ginger says, "You better let me go first." She gets down and Jerry follows. Ginger draws her pistol. The room appears to have been used for storing obsolete computer equipment. One monitor is lit. In front of it is what looks like a big, white, glowing spider. The monitor and CPU are jury-rigged into the building power. The spider thing appears to have two of its legs plugged into the computer ports. On the screen, large number of Web pages come up one after another, fast. Most appear to have to do with the Cherokee language.

Jerry says, "Um, hi, something wrong with the front door?" The thing doesn't answer. He yanks the power cords loose and the computer goes out. As the monitor was the only light in the room, it gets dark, except for the spider-thing's glow. Jerry turns on the light. The thing folds its legs up and floats in the air, matching the reports they have of its appearance. Jerry throws his coat over it and nabs it. It apparently decides to play dead, not moving or trying to escape.

Jerry and Ginger decide to go out through the ventilation system -- Ginger has the plans and the main vents are big enough to fit through. They let Charles and Hojo know what they're doing. Charles and Hojo go out the front. They tell the receptionist that Jerry and Ginger are still searching the archives.

The receptionist says, "The security guard isn't supposed to let you wander around unescorted." They get searched. Rather fun [? Maybe this is Hojo getting searched by a female security guard]. The receptionist reprimands them and sends them out.

Still in the vent, Ginger swears because they've installed new security equipment, not on the plans she has. It uses infrared sensor beams. They figure out how to temporarily disable it and get to the main exhaust vent. Jerry gets the cover off with the Swiss Army Knife the GM let him have in his pocket. They meet Charles and Hojo at the car and discuss what the artifact could be.

It's getting dark outside. Hojo notices there seem to be problems with some of the street lights. There are scattered, localized power outages in the area, and a number of people are having car trouble. Hojo recalls that such things often precede a UFO appearances.

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