Category: Legacy: Life Among the Ruins

#Morningstar 10: The Drugs Don’t Work

The situation

* An expedition led by 101010 of the Maintenance Collective has located and disabled Mobile Radiation Source-1, opening up a significant area of the dark decks.

* Inspired by Commissioner Mars, the MC has uncovered the location of the Astrogation Arrays. Getting there will require a perilous journey to the ship’s forward section.

* Commissioner Mars’ efforts to track down the leader of Humanity First has put him on their radar, and he is now being watched. There has been a series of low-level attacks on bots across the City, with cameras spraypainted and manipulators damaged.

* What was initially thought to be a routine siphoning operation stealing water from the Provisional Government has turned out to be something bigger: the quantities involved mean it can only be being used for one thing: reaction mass.

The MC consults the memories of INC-07 and learn that early human AI’s, including some of those on the ship, were amalgams of several uploaded biological personalities.

Enforcer patrols report more trouble: the Scavs and Porters who work for the puppeteers are organising for a strike. And a Scav by the name of maria sharp-Eyes is hawking a root-kit round the bazaar, promising it as a way of turning any bot into a slave.

Commissioner Mars arranges a meeting with Manora Wade, the leader of the Throng, getting the provisional Government to vouch for him and set it up on neutral ground. The bad blood between the Families is apparent from the beginning, with Wade responding to Mars’ vague openings with a straight out question of whether this is a shake-down. Mars finally reveals his agenda: he wants Eclipse, an entertainer tied to the Throng and the figurehead of Humanity First, to be “redirected” towards “something more positive’. And in exchange, he’ll make sure Big Ramo, the stick-up artist who has been robbing Throng dealers, stays out of their hair. Wade comments that it is a shake-down, but agrees. She’s not very committed, but circumstances conspire to change that…

The Maintenance Collective reveals that its Listeners have found a data centre out in the dark decks which could be used to harden their programming and make them immune to current rootkits. Using controls from the Bridge to disable some of the security and open a few doors, the claim it and get to work on the upgrade. Unfortunately in the process they accidentally open a few spaces over by life support, and expose a PG trade caravan to vacuum. Reparations will have to be made for the loss of life.

The Keepers meanwhile have finally come up with a solution to the Throng’s addiction problem they had been asked to solve at the call to order. They’d been asked to provide rehabilitation services to mitigate the cognitive impairment side effect caused by a wildly popular drug, and find some way of enabling the addicts to be productive members of society. But rather than come up with a rehab method, the hospital AIs have come up with a blocker vaccine, which prevents the drug from working. The Keepers use the hospital systems to manufacture a sufficient dosage, then use their control of life support to introduce it into the water supply. They try to do this secretly, but transporting the product from the hospital by trade caravan and drafting in some talkative PG bots to help with the dosing meant the secret gets out very quickly. The Keepers respond by issuing a public statement that they have treated the water supply to resolve an addiction problem. So when addicts started going into withdrawal and suffering seizures because their drugs no longer work, people knew exactly who to blame. Which means that when the Enforcers snatch Big Ramo’s gang in a SWAT raid, the Throng are suddenly eager for Eclipse to redirect his followers. The attacks on bots stop. And suddenly the Left Bank and the Hole are covered in graffiti about the Keepers and forced medication. The Keepers have done a good job at selling the necessity of their actions to the wealthy, but there are parts of the City where its no longer safe for them to go, and bigger trouble is probably brewing…

The MC invites the families to join an expedition to the Astrogation Arrays, and the Enforcers, Keepers, and PG join in. 101010, Brother Signal, an Enforcer tech called Nova and Repair Unit-57 (“Rippy”) go along, aided by a team of keeper doorbreakers head off. To assist in the task, they take an MC powerbot called NRG-21 – essentially a big floating battery who can temporarily power ship systems, but could overload. To get them there safely, they use an Automapper, a device which usually shows a safe path through the ship if the destination is known.

The astrogation arrays are in the ship’s forward section, separate from the spin habitat. But rather than leading them to an elevator to the core, the automapper leads them to an airlock, then across the inner surface of the spin habitat through hard vacuum. Everyone is prepared for this, but there’s some slight damage to 101010 and Rippy in negotiating the gap and velocity difference between the spin habitat and the forward section. While waiting at the forward section airlock, Brother Signal opens his mind to the void, and gets a sense that something truly alien is in the ship with them. But its just a fleeting sensation. Eventually everyone gets inside and reorients themselves to zero-gravity and decks laid out for thrust.

The forward section is darker than the habitat, and colder, but there is still air (though no-one risks cracking their suit). The automapper leads them up several decks, along some a maze of service corridors towards a doorway marked “astrogation control”, then announces “you have arrived at your destination”. The whole area is dark and still. Inside, the control panels are all dark – the whole system in unpowered. But in a few places they’re discoloured by frozen… something. Flashing their lights into the corners, the team finds what can only be described as egg-sacs, some old and brittle and empty, some still warm and moist and alive. The team keeps well back, with Signal examining them from a distance using his magnifying visor, and beaming the data back to the bridge. There’s nothing in the Keeper records about anything like this: its not from Earth, its no known species encountered before or during the war with the aliens. The team decides to proceed with caution. NRG-21 is plugged in, but begins overpowering the circuits, causing a shower of sparks on the other side of the room. Signal reaches out with his mind and brings everything under control, but in the distraction Nova feels something drop onto the back of her neck. She instinctively grabs it and flings it across the room. There’s a skittering noise, then silence.

Signal orders the Keeper doorbreakers to activate the bio-hazard protocols, and seal the room. They move to comply, and seal a few doors. Then Brother Locke falls to the floor, spasming. 101010 sees a skinless, rabbit-sized thing on the back of his neck, and surgically removes it with a flamer, burning it to a crisp. On the other side of the room, one of the other doorbreakers is also attacked, but Signal kills the attacker with his laser. There’s a bit of skittering as the things flee, then the remaining doorbreakers get everything locked down. The team is locked in, and safe for the moment.

The two Keepers are having some sort of seizure, but Signal (who has a fair amount of experience with neurological shocks) administers appropriate medication and sedatives and brings it under control. They should recover once they’ve slept it off, and might be able to talk about their experience. Looking at the corpses, they find the attackers had no mouthparts, no apparent sensory organs, and hadn’t breached their victims suits – they were mounting some form of electrical or neurological attack through the suit – rootkitting people. They bag up a sample, then fry the remaining eggs, just to be sure. Then they wait and try to work out what to do next.

Some fun politics in the City, and an Alien-like scene during exploration. They’ve established a breachhead in astrogation, and got it temporarily powered, but they haven’t made it safe yet. Meanwhile, they have an unknown alien threat in the forward section, and no idea how extensive it is or whether it eats bots. Things are going to get interesting.

#Morningstar 9: MRS-1

The situation

* At the Call to Order the Enforcers were asked to open the way to the Jungle for the Keepers. They have laid the groundwork by bribing “Lucky” Ivan with an apartment in New Hold, and are waiting to begin the actual expedition.

* There are several minor problems around the City: a gang of anti-bot fanatics called “Humanity First” is promising violence, and someone is opening Sleeper pods in the Dark Decks, but not harming or waking the Sleepers.

* The Puppeteers plan to solve the problem of counterfeit ration books with a new currency. The Keepers have been lobbying them to try and ensure everyone’s needs are taken care of.

* 101010 of the Maintenance Collective has led an expedition into the Dark Decks to try and uncover the mystery of Mobile Radiation Source-1. They encountered and drove off a swarm of cobbled-together scav-bots. One of them was root-kitted to join the Collective as KLG-001, an undesignated general maintenance unit.

The MC consults the memories of INC-07 and learn that the last fleet (as it became known), the one the elite were in contact with just before they lost the war, had been quarantined after it was infected with a biological weapon. It is unclear whether any human crew ere still alive, or whether it was being run by AIs, or even the nature of the biological weapon itself.

Enforcer patrols report further problems in the City. The Provisional Government seems to be having a water imbalance, and there is a suggestion that someone has got wind of the proposed currency change and is hoarding in expectation of a price rise. Meanwhile, a notorious stick-up artist known as Big Ramo is robbing Throng dealers.

In the dark decks, the expedition takes stock of its situation and questions KLG-001. Unfortunately, it doesn’t remember anything, having been overwritten by the reboot kit. It does have a disturbing habit of collecting scrap and eyeing other bots up as a source of spare parts. After it exhausts its power reserves trying to build a second radiation scanner, it plugs in for a recharge, and 101010 orders it to return to the City when it is done.

The expedition continues, led on by Foo’s rad-scanner. Eventually they reach the upmost deck, and come to the conclusion that the source of the radiation beam must be “above’ them, somewhere outside. Finding a maintenance airlock, they emerge onto the inner skin of the spin habitat, and spot a large turret-like apparatus several kilometers away across the curve of the habitat. Foo’s radiation sensor spikes as it turns towards them…

The group scatters. While 101010, Foo, and the MC attack drones make their way towards the turret, Brother Signal stays put and studies it. It appears to be some sort of heavy-duty maintenance scanner, though there’s some damage to the focal array. There’s an obvious power conduit, which suggests how it could be deactivated, and it can obviously be used as a weapon. In fact, that’s what its being used as now. The Keepers are forced to scatter even further to evade the beam, but a few catch a few rads.

Meanwhile Foo has approached unobserved and is working out the best way to disable the device. Standard system architecture means there will be a switchboard on the other end of that power conduit, somewhere where it can all be taken offline for maintenance. Unfortunately there’s a door in the way. Fortunately, 101010 has an experimental energy projector. The resulting blast is very impressive. But there’s an immediate priority maintenance call with a security protocol, resulting in nearby maintenance bots being re-tasked to defend the facility. Foo manages to talk its way past the first defender to emerge from the turret, and dashes inside. A quick drop down a shaft, and it is sitting in front of the switchboard. Foo immediately rams the shutoff, plunging the entire facility into darkness. But as it turns, it sees a pair of maintenance bots floating towards it, welders and rivet-guns taking aim.

Foo turns and flees, and dashes for the exit, taking a bad cut across its flank in the process. The maintenance bots give chase. Foo leads them straight into a fusillade of fire from the MC security drones, and leaves them to the fight. Meanwhile, there is a colossal explosion outside as 101010 eliminates the external defender, a substantial chunk of hull, and part of the turret. He also takes the brunt of the backblast, taking significant damage.

As the battle rages, Brother Signal finally makes it to the turret, and interfaces with an external network node. He uses this to convince the system that they are an emergency maintenance crew, resulting in a stand-down order to the remaining defenders. Hostilities successfully ended, he examines the turret and listens to the last residual echoes of its shut down control system, receiving memories of long ago. There was an emergency order. Sleeper Hold 01-alpha was a priority target. It had to channel all its power to get one good shot to prevent escape. Its focal array damaged, its weakened beam drifted aimlessly…

The Keepers confer. While they haven’t visited Sleeper Hold 01-alpha, they know who was in it: the top members of the Elite. If the weapon worked, then they were all cooked in their pods instantly. Long-term exposure will have killed anyone still in pods in the wandering beam’s area – and could kill anyone the beam is turned on if it is reactivated. The Keepers decide that this is too dangerous to leave lying around, and so work with the MC to dismantle it. Once that is done, they return to the City.

A week later, Commissioner Mars meets with 101010 to discuss the “Humanity First” problem. Humanity First seem to be inspired by a Throng entertainer called Eclipse, who unfortunately hasn’t done anything illegal themselves. While the Enforcers could go in heavy against them, Mars thinks there’s a better way: craft a better story than theirs. He gives a great speech about the need to give people hope, for humanity to forge its own destiny, find its own homeworld, and not be prisoners anymore. The way to do that, he suggests, is by finding the Astrogation arrays – something the MC can do from the Bridge. Then they can plot a course to wards a world of their own choosing. While initially puzzled, 101010 agrees and heads for the bridge to pinpoint the location.

Meanwhile the Keepers approach the Provisional Government with a naked bribe: anagathic treatment in the hospital for their senior staff, in exchange for the Chief Programmer debugging the hospital AIs. The Keepers get the Throng to vouch for them, and the deal is sealed.

Commissioner Mars tries to track down Eclipse by talkign to snitches, but becomes a target for a Humanity First gang. He defuses their rather clumsy attempts at intimidation, but finds himself followed and watched everywhere. When Mars attempts to talk some of them round, they react with hostility. Clearly the anti-bot movement aren’t buying his message.

Brother Signal meets with their Puppeteer contact to get an update on progress on the new currency. Things seem to be going well, and the Puppeteers have agreed to a universal allowance system to ensure basic needs are met, but there will inevitably be some disruption as relative prices adjust and the market shakes itself out. The PG’s water problem is mentioned as an example, and hoarding is suggested, but the Keepers have better intel: given the quantities and where it is disappearing from the system (and therefore where it might be going), there’s only one explanation. The water isn’t been hoarded for economic gain, but as reaction mass. Someone has a dropship and is planning a trip – without telling anyone else.

So, they solved one problem, only to create a big new one. Humanity First looks like its going to escalate into a front, and I’ll have to work out what someone is doing with that reaction mass. Fortunately I already have a few ideas…