Open to All Investigators-Beginning of Digital Frontier Jaunt

[purseownerisme]

For those who are experiencing this for the first time, don't worry. Just keep calm and listen to this message.

If you're hearing this, you're what we call an investigator: someone who retains their memories from their home and other worlds if they have them while in a Jaunt. Some of us have blended in with the setting and are called Infiltrators; don't try and jog their memory back otherwise we'll be in a lot of trouble. They also cannot use the network we're on right now.

What we need to know now is who's not thinking they're a program and what they have noticed so far. Anything will help us try and figure out a way to solve this next issue.

Comments

[prolificarse]

And here I was preparing for a spot of friendly mass murder to pass the evening.

[He even thinks in arid sarcasm. Joy.]

The dead can't return. There are creatures that can cheat death, or replace the fallen so convincingly that most onlookers are none the wiser, but once a soul has passed beyond the Veil, that's it.

[turbedon]

Trust me. They were dead.

[There's a careful neutrality to Dick's mental 'voice' as he says that, forcing himself not to drop behind that curtained wall that kept him from reliving Harrogates nightmare all over again.]

Anyway, hopefully that won't be happening too much here. It would be nice to get through two Jaunts in a row without someone dying in the process.

[prolificarse]

Setting quite the high bar, aren't you? These fellows don't look terribly friendly.

[It's not really acceptance of the assertion that the dead can return, merely a refocusing on more pressing matters.

Like unhappy armed people who might be inclined to prevent anything as cheerful as a no fatality streak from forming.]

[turbedon]

They look worried for the most part. No one's tried attacking yet, so... so far so good?

[prolificarse]

I suppose that depends on the temperament of their commanding officer.

[turbedon]

Oh, JORD1? I saw him on a Jaunt some time ago... but he didn't have as much authority then.

[prolificarse]

You've been here before? Or is he...one of us, I suppose?

[turbedon]

No and I'm not sure but I'm leaning towards another no. As far as I know, he's not a traveler, and no one's seen him in Liminal Space. We saw him as a native about... two Jaunts back? He didn't really do enough to be suspicious, but this time he's definitely higher up the ladder.

[prolificarse]

Was his role in that Jaunt similar to this one, disregarding the promotion to a higher station?

[There's a slight edge there, as though something about this has sharpened his interest beyond obvious reason.]

[turbedon]

[A long pause follows as Dick thinks back on Geordie's involvement in Harrogate.]

Actually... now that I think about it, he was pretty high up. He was an officer of some sort... head of the local constabulary or something. Rubbing elbows with Le- the mayor.

I guess that's just what he does across these Jaunts.

[prolificarse]

Interesting. I wonder - that does look like a city off in the distance, if you're not too choosy about your definition. If these are the local equivalent of a city guard, they might not be so difficult to deal with after all.

[turbedon]

From what I can see? They're pretty much just people that happen to be manifestations of digital programs, so no, they shouldn't be that difficult to deal with. What I'm worried about is what tech they might be hiding in that Partition. The place just screams military and the last thing we need are some hulked out tanks being brought out to take everyone down or something.

[prolificarse]

[There is a moment of utter blankness, like psychic static.

How do technology?]

I've no idea what a 'hulked out tank' is meant to describe. Are you concerned about armoured behemoths, or something more akin to a terrestrial dreadnought?

[turbedon]

Terrestrial dreadnought with canons, more or less. Slow but deadly and thickly armored enough to make it pretty difficult to destroy one without any strong firepower.