Play@YSDC

Posted: **Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:55 am**

if the sign on the wall is anything to go by Campus IT Services are run by run by a Mr R Linehan and his staff of gophers. Hidden at the end of a long corridor in the basement of the School of IT building, their workshop is easy to miss. Most of the signage and the doors are hidden behind rows of cages full of retired or broken IT junk.

Sitting at the end of the corridor it doesn't take long to determine that Roy’s team consists of 3 permanent members of staff and a handful of part time nerds and hangers on. That there office hours are Mon-Fri 0900-1700 (closed for lunch)

Clay seems particularly happy, noting the lock on the workshop door can be easily forced and there is no indication that university security does more than check the external doors and make sure no windows are left open.

Posted: **Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:33 pm**

I'll watch the corridor.
Jacob says

Posted: **Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:31 am**

"This is familiar territory for me," says Liz. "I don't actually repair hardware, but I work in a computer lab on campus and help people with software issues. It's nice because the time I'm not busy helping someone is mine. Perfect for getting my coursework done - or goofing off on the Internet. Well, looks like we'll have no trouble in the evening. Would be better to pick the lock if possible rather than force it. That way nobody knows anyone was ever here."

Posted: **Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:18 am**

Clay looks a bit sheepish "picking locks isn't really my strong point, but we can give it a go"

Posted: **Fri Aug 02, 2013 4:37 am**

"Let's go gather what we'll need and change into more appropriate clothes for what we'll be doing," suggests Liz. "I'll need to bring my laptop and the EHD. It'll probably take some time to backup the entire hard drive, depending on how much is stored on it. If it's not too much, I can copy it to a flash drive instead. I'll bring a network cable to hook the two computers up in case the screen's still on the fritz. I've got the work order number memorized, which should help me find it fast. Once you get me inside, I can do the rest. Anyone else who comes along can stand watch."

Posted: **Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:55 am**

Greg checks up and down the corridor for any signs of cameras and good places to hide. He feels that these things may be very important later and makes mental notes of the location of each. Then he faces Liz and says "I believe you're correct. 1 hour does not seem like enough time to do what we need to do especially covertly like we want."

Posted: **Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:57 am**

"Perhaps I'd best leave my laptop behind," says Liz. "It's a bit bulky and would only get in the way and be conspicuous. There are other monitors here, and I could always hook the computer up to one of them if need be."

Posted: **Mon Aug 05, 2013 9:34 am**

Greg can't seen any CCTV cameras, and the length of the corridor is cluttered with cages* full of old IT gear of one kind or another so much so that from the top of the corridor you cant actually see the door to the IT services workshop.

*cages - Imagine the sort of things you see at Walmart or similar supermarkets for moving stock around. Basicaly, its a trolley with high sides to stop stuff falling off them when its been piled high.

Posted: **Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:02 pm**

"With all this clutter, at least it should be easy to hide from view if need be. I wonder if it's just over-stocked gear, or outdated stuff they hadn't discarded yet?" Greg took a gander at some of the items in the roll-around racks of equipment to see what sort of stuff they were stacking outside of safe-keeping.

Posted: **Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:14 pm**

As far as Greg can tell its all outdated or useless/broken gear

Posted: **Tue Aug 06, 2013 2:52 pm**

Greg shook his head, "You'd think they'd recycle all this crap, or donate it... or at least throw it away so it wasn't cluttering up the place." He shrugged then, rather indifferently, "Not my business." Looking to the others, he asked, "Shall we depart then?"

Posted: **Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:15 am**

"Right, let's go," says Liz. "I'll bring my laptop after all. It would take a while to sort out the merely obsolete monitors from the broken ones, assuming there even are any."

Posted: **Wed Aug 07, 2013 10:19 am**

Posted: **Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:53 am**

Posted: **Thu Aug 08, 2013 9:02 am**

Posted: **Thu Aug 08, 2013 11:23 pm**

Clay says, "Lets go get your laptop and crap you need. Then lets just hide behind the racks here. Should be safe enough. I'll grab what I need to get in." Leaving it kind of vague as to if I'm going to pick the lock or just force it.

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2013 3:23 am**

"Sounds like a plan," says Liz, nodding. "We should change our clothes too. I'll wear all black, because it's fashionable. Oh, and it'll make us harder to see. Gloves as well, so we don't mess the place up with our smudgy fingerprints."

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2013 4:23 am**

"Sounds good, lets also use the Bluetooth things, so we can talk without yelling. " Clay continued,

"Lets split up when we hide, if you get caught, call it a sorority prank, go out, and the other can let the one caught back in. And call me Joe, if you must use a name. With just 2 of us on the line, we shouldn't need to."

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2013 4:40 am**

"All right," says Liz. "And you can call me Chloe." She has used the name of the computer whiz from 24 as an alias before, but nobody outside their group is likely to draw the connection.

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2013 5:04 am**

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2013 11:31 am**

Slipping between the cages, everyone finds a place to hide (can I have a relevant hide/camoflage skill) shortly after that a crowd of people leave the IT service workshop. Ten to fifteen minutes later someone walks down the corridor and turns off lights, and checking doors, in the distance a voice opens the door to the loos and asks if "anyone in there as we're locking up for the night".

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2013 2:11 pm**

I'm going to make sure the jimmy bar is not with me, so if I get caught, I'm not caught with that.

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2013 4:15 pm**

Clay takes his time to make sure he can really cover himself up with the rows of junk before the IT people leave.

He was able to do that with no problem at all. But if someone looks at all he wouldn't be able to hide.

Posted: **Sat Aug 10, 2013 5:27 am**

Liz stashes her laptop and the other computer equipment she brought with her in one of the cages, where it would blend in with all of the other gear. She can always retrieve them once the building is empty. She isn't the best at hiding, but she isn't too bad at it either, and being small helps. If she is discovered, she is ready to pretend that she is just finishing up back here.

Posted: **Mon Aug 12, 2013 10:46 am**

No one seem to notice Liz or Clay, or if they are they aren't paying either of them any attention. After a short while the lights in the corridor go out leaving them in gloom - not entirely dark as there seems to be some light coming from under the door to IT services.

Posted: **Mon Aug 12, 2013 3:42 pm**

Clay waits another 2 mins then using the bluetooth. "its all clear here. I think we are good to go." Clay slowly peaks out to make sure there are not stragglers and retrieves his jimmy bar and heads to the IT door.

Posted: **Tue Aug 13, 2013 4:57 am**

"Hang about," whispers Liz as she gathers her gear. "There's still a light on. I think someone else is here." She creeps up to the door and puts her ear to it.

Posted: **Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:35 am**

Liz has to kneel by the door for a minute or so, but she thinks she can hear someone typing away on a computer and someone working at the back of the room, she can also hear the whirr of a printer.

Posted: **Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:51 am**

Clay looks at Liz with puzzlement. "Nightshift?"

Posted: **Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:10 am**

"Dunno," Liz whispers back, "but there's at least two of them. Someone's typing on a computer, and someone else is at the back. They're printing something out."

Posted: **Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:45 am**

Pressing her face up to the gap int he doors Liz can see a skinny man, hair streaked with grey tied back in a lank pony-tail leaning over a large printer clearly engrossed in whatever he's printing out.

Posted: **Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:59 pm**

Clay looks at Liz, "Is the door locked?"

Posted: **Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:51 pm**

Checking the gap between the doors, Clay can see that while there is a lock, it doesn't look as though its closed (ie the door is unlocked)

Posted: **Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:09 pm**

"So 2 options, wait a bit to see if they leave, or we can rush them. I'm good either way, your call Cloe." Clay says.

Posted: **Thu Aug 15, 2013 4:55 am**

"I say we wait for now," whispers Liz, taking out her laptop and booting it up, making sure the sound is muted, "and while we wait, there's something else I can do. If that computer they're using is connected to a wireless network, I'm close enough that I should be able piggyback and maybe find out what they're up to." She quietly describes what she saw through the crack in the door as she waits for the computer to finish booting, then scans for wireless networks once it's ready.

Posted: **Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:49 am**

She finds several wireless networks, the strongest called BUW-Skaro seems the most likely.

Posted: **Thu Aug 15, 2013 2:57 pm**

While Liz does her computer thing, Clay carefully positions himself between her and the door so he can see if anyone approches the door.

He gets his knife out and readies it just in case.

Posted: **Fri Aug 16, 2013 4:17 am**

"Ah, a fellow Whovian," whispers Liz. "That will make it easier to guess the password." She tries likely possibilities first, starting with Dalek and Davros, but she can't quite get the information she seeks.

Posted: **Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:33 am**

A voice calls out from the workshop "Hey Albert, do me a favor reboot and reboot the wireless router. Its on the little shelf above the door, just wait a moment before switching it back on its a bit temperamental."

The man by the printer straightens up and puts the poster he's looking at carefully down on the table. "K, wait a minute"

Posted: **Sun Aug 18, 2013 2:01 pm**

Clay looks over at Liz who has that look on her face that people can only get when dealing with a computer that isn't cooperating. He knows it because he makes it all the time. This is the first time he can remember Liz having it. "So what now?" he says softly into the blue tooth.

Posted: **Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:41 am**

"Hide," whispers Liz, folding up her laptop. She gathers her things and retreats to her hiding spot behind the cages. "If we're discovered, we'll try to sort it peacefully. I bet these two aren't supposed to be here any more than we are, but they don't know that we don't belong here. If they find us and wonder why we're hiding, we were hiding from the intruders - them."

Posted: **Mon Aug 19, 2013 1:21 pm**

The man comes over to the door, but doesn't come outside, he reaches up above the door waits a few moments then reaches up again.

"Cheers, I think we had some one pirating the bandwidth" says the voice from further back in the workshop.

Posted: **Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:41 pm**

Clay freezes. If he thinks he can move without being seen he will go back to his hiding place. If it looks like the guy could see my shadow move, I won't move.

Posted: **Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:20 pm**

Clay has more than enough time to slip away to a safer hiding place before the man arrives.

Posted: **Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:43 pm**

Clay has a slight look of disapointment, like he wanted to get into a scrap, but he is very careful and moves back to his hiding place.

Posted: **Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:14 am**

"Someone knows what he's doing," Liz whispers to Clay. "I could try again and hopefully cover my tracks better, minimize the amount of bandwidth I use."

Posted: **Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:34 am**

"Do you think he laid a trap for you? I mean if he knows your tapping in, and he is good," Clay whispers "but I don't know that much about hacking stuff beyond playing youtube vids."

Posted: **Thu Aug 22, 2013 4:46 am**

"It's possible he's set a trap," whispers Liz. "The other option is to ignore them and just look for the prof's laptop back here and copy the data. We'll just have to wait for them to leave before we go."

Posted: **Thu Aug 22, 2013 8:38 am**

Posted: **Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:03 pm**

Clay looks at the old bulky desktops and CRT monitors, "There is no way the prof's laptop is in this garbage. I wouldn't let my dog use this crap. Hell is this a 386? Wow, this stuff is antique. His laptop is in that cage. We can wait, unless you think they are here for the same thing we are. They may not leave the data like we were planning to."

Posted: **Fri Aug 23, 2013 3:46 am**

"Yeah, good point," whispers Liz. "I'd better go back in, just in case. I almost had it last time before I got found out." She tries to infiltrate the network again in what she hopes is a more cautious manner. "Bugger," she mutters. "They must have beefed up the security after my last foray."

Posted: **Fri Aug 23, 2013 3:51 pm**

"I'm just worried they are erasing the data as we speak." Clay whispers back. "I think we are going to need this, give me the word, I think I can take a couple computer geeks. No offense."

Posted: **Sat Aug 24, 2013 5:37 am**

"They were printing something out," replies Liz softly. "That means they're prolly not going to nick the computer, and if they do plan to wipe the data, they won't do it until they're done. Let's try to keep things peaceful for now. Maybe I can listen at the door some more to get a better idea of why they're here."

Posted: **Sat Aug 24, 2013 3:21 pm**

"Sounds like a plan, you listen, I'll keep watch." Clay responds, he gets in position to protect Liz if anything happens.

Posted: **Sat Aug 24, 2013 4:12 pm**

About fifteen minutes later the voice calls out. "OK, I'm done. The apps been sent off to Apple lets see if it makes my fortune eh. Can you lock up when your finished, just put the key under the first trolley like last time and I'll pick it up in the morning."

The man hunched over the printer grunts in reply.

Another man then appears tatty t-shirt jeans and trainers throwing a courier bag over one shoulder. "Alternatively, You can join us at the bar if you get there in the next hour, in which case bring it with you."

The man hunched over the printer again grunts in reply.

Posted: **Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:30 pm**

"Time to hide again," Clay suggests to Liz. Then moves back to his hiding spot and makes sure he is well hidden.

Posted: **Sat Aug 24, 2013 8:41 pm**

Liz nods and falls back to her hiding place. "Well, it looks like whatever they're up to has nothing to do with us," she whispers. "At least we know where the key is, and now there's only one of them - and it's not the one who detected my intrustion earlier. Maybe this time I can get back in and find out what they're doing."

Posted: **Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:19 am**

Posted: **Tue Aug 27, 2013 5:25 am**

Liz tries again, but she has no more success than she did before.

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:26 pm**

"Sure thing Roy, I shouldn't be too much longer here, I've only got one more image to print." I call out

"I'll try and catch you in the bar - beer sounds good"

I look down at the picture and then mutter "Jesus shits, they did a number on this guy"

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2013 7:47 pm**

"Hmm..." Liz whispers to Clay. "Maybe they are after the same thing we are."

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:18 pm**

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:03 pm**

Liz keeps trying to trace their activities on the network, but it is simply not to be.

Posted: **Wed Sep 04, 2013 3:34 pm**

Clay just shakes his head and mumbles to himself, "hate computers, give me a crowbar anyday."

Posted: **Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:38 am**

OOC: LIz/Clay, So just how long are Liz and Clay going to sit there the man in the workshop seems engrossed in his work and despite his earlier comments seems to be making no move to leave.

Posted: **Thu Sep 05, 2013 2:41 pm**

After 30-45 mins, Clay finds himself starting to nod off. He shakes his head to wake up, "I think this guy is going to work all night. I say we just go in, tell him we need to check this, do our thing and leave. He may not even care."

Posted: **Fri Sep 06, 2013 4:34 am**

Liz shrugs. "Right, let's do it," she says. "No need to threaten him if we don't have to."

Posted: **Fri Sep 06, 2013 9:21 am**

Posted: **Fri Sep 06, 2013 11:10 am**

Albert looks up from the print that he has been studying, pretty sure he could hear someone at the door.

"Hallo" he calls "is that you Roy? You forgotten something or couldn't you stay away from my charm and wit?

Posted: **Fri Sep 06, 2013 7:41 pm**

Clay walks around the corner like he came from the door, "See I told you it would still be open, someone is always down here." Looking back hoping Liz will follow his lead and come out.
.
Then to the stranger in the cage, "Hey there long night huh, tell me about it." We just walk right in, like we do this every day. "Roy said you might still be here, you're a life saver."

Posted: **Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:27 am**

Liz follows, smiling. "Oh, good," she says. "I really need to get this done before class tomorrow morning."

Posted: **Sat Sep 07, 2013 10:04 am**

"Oh! Err...hi" Albert is slightly taken aback by the two newcomers, having expected Roy to come through the door.

"erm..the lab's closed, well technically it's closed but as you can see it's open because I'm here. Roy didn't mention anything about anyone using the lab tonight." he gives them both a good look, trying to memorise distinctive features, eye colour, hair style and length.

He gives the young lady an appraising look and decides he likes what he sees, offering his hand "Anyway, I'm sure it's ok for you to be here. I'm Albert, Albert Quirky. Pleasure to make you acquaintance, is there anything I can help you with miss...?

Posted: **Sat Sep 07, 2013 8:27 pm**

"O'Brian," says Liz, shaking Albert's hand. "Chloe O'Brian. Nice to meet you too, Mr. Quirky. Thank you for your help, but I think we can manage. I don't want to interrupt your work."

Posted: **Sat Sep 07, 2013 11:30 pm**

Liz and Clay can see that Albert is working on poster size photos of the murder scene. The photos are high resolution but have clearly been graphically and digitally enhanced to make them more artistic.

Posted: **Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:27 am**

"So, what's your interest in Professor Gosshamm's murder?" Liz asks Albert.

Posted: **Sun Sep 08, 2013 1:49 am**

"Names Joe, nice to meet you. Did you take these? Really awesome man." Clay pipes in while admiring the printouts.

Posted: **Mon Sep 09, 2013 10:24 am**

"Hi Chloe, Joe" Albert smiles.

"Yep, I took these, that's what I do, I'm a photographer by trade. Though murder scenes aren't my normal subject matter - just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time "

"Did you know the professor?

Posted: **Mon Sep 09, 2013 4:12 pm**

"Just happen to be at the right place? What do you mean?" Clay is acting engrossed in the printouts and conversation. He gives a little nod to Liz to do her thing.
"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a murder scene. So what is with the special affects and such you're putting on them? Sorry sounding a bit morbid, but I swear I can't stop looking at them."

Posted: **Tue Sep 10, 2013 4:39 am**

While Clay talks, Liz looks around for the professor's laptop, having remembered the work order number from the receipt in his office. She tries to get a feel for how things are organized here.

Posted: **Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:19 am**

Organised chaos it the best way to describe the layout of the workshop, but Liz spots a pile of laptops on workbench nearby, the professor's laptop is about halfway down the stack or at least the piece of paper with its work order is visible about halfway down the stack..

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:06 am**

Liz carefully moves the half of the stack above the professor's laptop aside. Then she places the one she wants on the bench, opens it up, and powers it on, looking to see if the screen is working.

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:16 am**

The laptop's screen is badly cracked however there are a number of available monitors and it is a moments work to hook it up to one of the monitors on the workbench.

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:09 am**

Albert looks up and observes the young woman moving the laptops around

"Err..miss, Chloe wasn't it? What exactly is it you are doing in the lab? Those laptops are college property and I don't believe that you are a lab technician, I know all of Roy's boys."

He pauses before continuing

"Actually, now I come to think about, I'm pretty sure that I haven't seen either of you on campus before, do you have your student id cards to hand?"

Taking his mobile phone from his pocket he says "Maybe I should give Roy a call..."

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2013 3:33 pm**

Clay speaks up, "Its a big campus, don't think I've ever seen you before. Listen our professor asked to grab a couple files off his computer he needs for some research, no big deal then we are out of your hair. No need for getting all hall monitor on us."

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2013 4:03 pm**

"That's as may be but I'd still like to see your student id cards and also to know your professor's name?"

Finding Roy's number in his phone, his thumb hovers over the dial button.

If you really need these files tonight, then I suggest we clear it with Roy, he is, after all, responsible for the equipment that has been checked in here. He is also responsible for network and IT security - so I am sure that he will be more than interested to know that one of the professors is handing out passwords to his students"

Albert pauses and takes a couple of steps towards Chloe

"So then, let's see your passes...

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:36 pm**

Clay steps between Albert and Cloe(Liz). I'd like to intimidate him with my size 16 over him. "Yea we played this long enough."
Then in a very slow calm voice, "Albert, you are going to put the phone away, you aren't going to call anyone."

Then over to Liz, "Get what you need Cloe, we aren't going to have any trouble from this guy."
Then back at Albert. "What we are doing is important, we are investigating the professors death, and we need the info on his laptop before it is lost. You can help us, or get out of the way, but we aren't leaving without the files."
.
Clay looks at the photos being printed out, "And a couple of these photo printouts might be extremely useful as well. What do you think Cloe?"

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:37 pm**

"Ah, so now we reveal our true colours eh?" Albert continues, completely unfazed by Joe pushing into his personal space.

"Scratch the surface and see the truth revealed beneath, huh?." he turns to Chloe "So you're the brains and this is the meat" he jerks a thumb at Joe.

"Right, so you are investigating the professor's death. Strangely, I don't quite buy that. I don't think you're here to recover any files from the professors computer before it's lost, in fact, I think you're here to ensure that those files are lost for good! The question is, are you on the side of the butchers that did for that poor man or do your motives lie elsewhere?"

"So miss...whoever you may be.. why don't you just step away from that computer, put cro-magnon here back on his leash and tell me exactly what is going on down here."

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 3:12 am**

"This meat is about to go Cro-Magnum on your ass. I don't really care what you buy or don't. We aren't here to destroy anything, just make a copy. No one would have even known we were here if it weren't for you. Keep working Chloe."
Clay makes a fists that crack his knuckles.

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:08 am**

"Easy there, big guy," says Liz, waving a hand in a calming gesture. "Let's put violence in the happy box." She smiles at Albert. "I assure you, we are investigating the professor's murder to bring his killers to justice. Unless Joe here gets his hands on them before I do, in which case they very well might end up dead - which would be justice of a sort. We have reason to believe that an Albanian organised crime outfit is responsible, led by a known terrorist." She points to the old man in the photograph, if he's visible. "That chap, right there. He is responsible for multiple murders, arsons, kidnappings, and child abuse in London last month. He went to ground after that, but now he's resurfaced here to kill Professor Gosshamm. We're still not sure why, but it may have to do with his latest research. That's why we need to get access to his computer." She shows him her external hard drive. "I've brought this EHD to copy all the data from the prof's hard drive. I wouldn't have bothered bringing it if I'd intended to delete everything. It shouldn't take me more than an hour to get at the data I need, and then we'll put everything back just the way we found it. Nobody was even supposed to know we were here."

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:03 am**

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 4:21 pm**

Albert gives Joe a look of utter disdain and condescension, he is totally unfazed by his looming presence.

"There, there, be a good little knucklehead and get out of my face so that I can speak with your lady boss over there!" he waves a hand at Joe dismissively and turns back to face Chloe.

"Right then missy, it seems we are getting closer to the truth, but I still fear we aren't quite there yet. By what authority are you investigating the Professor's murder? You're obviously not the police, so before we continue with your little charade let's try a little more honesty. We'll start with your real names and who you're working for. Oh and I would stop tinkering with that laptop if I were you - Roy takes his system security very seriously, too many wrong sign-on attempts will lock the laptop down and it can then only be unlocked by the network super-admin, which would be Roy "

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:36 pm**

"Oh thats it," I go for the knockout.

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:26 pm**

Perhaps its Albert's short stature but Clay's jab misses by a hair's breadth in fact its so close as to look almost intentional on Clay's part.

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:10 pm**

Albert gives Joe a withering a look, the goon has just swung and missed at a man twice his age and half his size.

"Really? Miss, please get your pet under control so that we might converse like adults, maybe he needs to sit on the naughty step or something but I think you and I have things discuss that are probably a little taxing for his little brain...so, would you care to answer my questions?"

Posted: **Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:38 pm**

"Oh, is it adult to call people names little shorty nosey man," obviously lacking in some of the finer verbal skills. "You need to stop now or next time I won't miss, I don't care how old you are.".

Posted: **Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:40 am**

"Cool it with the testosterone, please," says Liz, placing a hand on Clay's arm. She has to reach up to do it since he's so much taller than her. She nods to Albert. "All right, I'll level with you. We're all on the same side here. As you surmised, the name Chloe O'Brian is an alias. She's a character from the American television programme '24,' a computer whiz working for the fictitious Counter Terrorism Unit. I'm a bit like her. My mate here takes more after Jack Bauer. My real name is Liz. Liz Penhaligon. We don't work for anyone. Our interest in this case is a personal one."

Posted: **Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:03 pm**

Posted: **Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:22 pm**

"What the hell Liz," Clay looks a bit flustered, "Grandpa here is going to turn us in now." I poke Albert hard in the chest, not enough to damage but enough to make a point. "You better learn some manners old man and curb your attitude some." Then I'll step back so he doesn't feel like he has to be the tough guy back.

Posted: **Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:23 pm**

"Yes, yes Albert says impatiently "now get back in your box"

He turns to Liz "Right then Liz, now we're getting somewhere, making progress eh? So let's see if I have everything straight. You believe that Professor Gossham was killed by organised crime goons on the orders of some Albanian Don Corleone. You think that there may be something on the professor's hard drive that will link him to said mafia boss or provide a motive for the hit. Thus you find yourselves on the wrong side of the law trying to purloin the data on his drive. It's a bit of luck for you that I'm down here and the door was open, otherwise you would have breaking and entering on your rap-sheet as well data theft."

"I'm still to be convinced that you are working for purely personal motives but stranger things have happened and that may be truth. Still I'm sure it will come out in the wash'

He pauses for a moment, musing, coming to a decision "Here's what we are going to do. I'm going to give you an hour to do what you came here to do" he points at the laptop "whilst you're doing that, why don't you tell me all about your investigations and how and what you know about Albanian mobsters, why you think they are responsible for the professor's murder and why the personal interest in this rather gruesome murder"

He turns to Joe Right. I'm going to lock the door. If I am to be party to these illegal events, I'd rather we are left undisturbed by unwanted visitors, unlike you I don't like witnesses to my crimes, I assure you I will let us all out when we are done - I haven't eaten yet and there a couple of pints Black Sheep that have my name on them

He walks to the door and locks it, leaving the key in the door for Joe and Liz to see. Turning back he speaks to Liz "Come along! Chop! Chop! Clock's ticking!"

Walking back to his print outs he asks over his shoulder "Are you related to Susan Penhaligon, the actress? You're certainly pretty enough to be her daughter!"

Posted: **Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:24 pm**

Clay crosses his arms, "I got a box for you right here old man. If you're trying to screw Liz or me over, I'll put you in a box." Then he looks over at Liz, "just get the files so we can get the hell out of here."

Posted: **Sat Sep 14, 2013 4:53 am**

"Not as far as I know," says Liz as she begins to work, "but cheers! I like her too. I've seen her in The Land That Time Forgot. I'm a bit too young to be her daughter, though. It'll take about an hour just to get at the data. Maybe a bit longer; this isn't as easy as I'd thought it would be. That doesn't include the time it'll take to copy the data. I don't know how long that will be, since I won't know how much there is until I get in. The old man didn't just order the murder, he led the attack. I recognised him when I saw the YouTube vid of the murder. I can point him out on it if you bring it up. Anyway, the reason we're mixed up in all this is because we met one of the little girls this bastard and his goons kidnapped and abused. She had gotten away from them somehow and gotten to Heathrow Airport, where she managed to sneak aboard a flight before getting caught. She'd been tattooed and badly burned. They'd placed her with an Albanian couple in London, the Tolkas, as a foster child. But a few days later they were murdered and their house burned down. There was no sign of the girl, Elira, but we knew those monsters had gotten her again."

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:29 am**

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:00 pm**

"Hmm, do you think there is a connection between this girl and the professor? Or is it just coincidence that they both happen to be on the bad man's radar? What are you hoping to find on the hard drive that ties them all together?".

Despite his earlier reservations Albert's curiosity has been piqued.

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2013 4:21 pm**

Clay interjects still suspicious and figures if he is talking Liz can concentrate on her work. " The prof did a lot of research into Albania and some of the folklore there. We think he may have stumbled on something the locals there would just as soon keep under wraps."

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2013 5:20 pm**

"Hmm, interesting...well if it is the Albanian mafia behind his death and these other awful crimes you attribute to them, what are you going to do with any evidence you unearth? Go to the police? Probably not - not without incriminating yourselves, you're tampering with evidence now - evidence that will probably be inadmissible in court now..." his voice trails as he ponders to himself.

Really, these are very nasty people - I mean take a look at what they did to this poor man" - he gestures at his poster sized prints - "what is it you think you can do to stop them? Honestly, how are you - a pretty little computer geek and a boy that is a rank amateur compared to these shits - how are you going to stop them?

He pauses letting the question hang in the air.

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2013 6:30 pm**

"Don't underestimate us, we've already run into them once and come out on top. Though I have to say we got lucky. I'm not sure us copying a file from their computer to ours would invalidate it as evidence, but it doesn't matter, this will never go to court. The cops won't do anything about this. They have better things to do than get killed." Clay answers.

Posted: **Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:20 pm**

"That doesn't answer my question. You'll need more than being lucky to take down these people. Don't take this the wrong way kid - but are you really capable of what it might take to sort these people? Can you do to them what they so easily and brutally do to others?"

"I'm intrigued, honestly. If you've got some kind of plan maybe I can help but all I see are a couple of kids that could be getting themselves involved in something way too deep and dangerous."

Albert looks over to Liz "How are you getting on lady?

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:40 am**

"We think all this may have something to do with the Professor's research into the theoretical Ur-language," says Liz as she works, "a single language that's the ancestor of all languages spoken in the world. He found that it's closely connected to the language of the Verbtoi, the Albanian subgroup to which these people belong. The symbols are similar to those on the Maltese Fragments and also bear resemblence to some of the symbols on the tattoos they've got. We had tried to help the police with tips for their investigation, but frankly they couldn't find their arse with both hands. We did all right the first time we ran afoul of them, and it wasn't just luck. We did our research and we came prepared. Thanks to us, Elira is safe - and so are three other girls we hadn't even known about." She keeps trying to crack the power on password, but she's just a bit distracted. "I've almost got it...bugger!"

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:00 am**

"Well this is all very interesting - most intriguing"

"It would seem that you hacking skills are letting you down this evening - I did tell you that Roy takes his security very seriously. However, he and I are friends, I spend a lot of time down here in the lab - I might be able to persuade him to let me have the passwords to the laptop.
Shall I give him a quick call, see if I can persuade him to?

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 8:52 am**

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 1:11 pm**

"Unless you can think of something else? I suppose the only other alternative, is we take the laptop back to my apartment and you can try your tech-wizardy without having to worry about anyone walking in on us. I can fix us something to eat or get a delivery and I can bring the laptop back when you're done.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:28 pm**

"Don't call anyone. The last thing we want is to get more people involved." Clay looks over at Liz, "Tell me you got something, I've never seen you have this much trouble with a computer before?"
.
"Hey man, we don't want to get you in trouble or anything, even if you can be a jerk. Like you said these guys are dangerous, Maybe best if you just go back to your photography and let us deal with it." Says Clay still not trusing this guy.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:53 pm**

"Whatever big guy...just trying to help the little lady out, she's been going nowhere for nearly an hour seems she's not so hot when the pressures on. But yeah, you're probably right, best not involve Roy unless we have to.

He looks up from his photos "Unless you have a better idea I'm happy to move off campus 'til you get what you want, the condition being the laptop stays in my possession and sight at all times. My apartment is a 10 minute walk away"

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 6:41 pm**

"Actually, I do have a couple of better ideas," says Liz. "Does Roy use the same passwords on all of these machines? If so, I can put a keystroke logging program on the computer you're using, and you can call him to tell him you accidentally shut down the machine and locked yourself out and ask him to come over to unlock it for you. If he agrees, you can turn off your computer on purpose, and the two of us can hide while he enters the passwords to power it on and log in. Once he's gone, we can just look at the log and see what passwords he entered. Or, I can just clone the laptop's hard drive onto my EHD. Then I can hook it up to my own computer when we're somewhere else and crack it at my leisure."

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 6:55 pm**

"I'd say clone it. I don't really want to call someone and have to wait for them to come, and then hope they use the same passwords for their admin login on all their computers. I'd rather go to old man's flat and do it." Clay puts in.

Posted: **Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:31 pm**

"Right," says Liz, nodding. She easily hooks up the EHD to the laptop and begins the process of creating a copy of the laptop's hard drive.

Posted: **Wed Sep 18, 2013 6:43 am**

"The keystroke logger won't work I'm afraid - this laptop is mine and not the universities, the only password that Roy would know is to get onto the university network and I'm pretty much restricted to where I can play on there. If cloning is the simple job then I'd say do that. That probably should have been your first idea!"

Posted: **Thu Sep 19, 2013 4:47 am**

"Yeah, I should have just thought of this in the first place," says Liz, monitoring the progress. "Roy knows what he's doing, all right."

Posted: **Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:18 pm**

The whole process takes Liz about 20 minutes.

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2013 4:45 am**

"There, all done," says Liz when it finishes. She disconnects the external hard drive and packs it up, then powers down the laptop and monitor and puts everything back where she had originally found it.

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2013 3:55 pm**

"good, lets get out of here," then over to Albert, "Thanks bud." Says Clay.

Posted: **Fri Sep 20, 2013 4:25 pm**

"No worries big man" Albert rolls up his prints and shut's his laptop down while Liz is sorting her kit out.

"Look, that offer still stands, if you want to come back to mine and grab something to eat whilst you try and crack that drive? You've got me intrigued - I'd also like to know what ties the professor to these Albanians. Call it a peace offering if you like - I know I acted a bit of a jerk earlier but when you're a small guy like me, you quickly learn to stand up for yourself"

"So what do you say to pizza and beers at mine?"

Posted: **Sat Sep 21, 2013 3:42 am**

"Cheers!" says Liz, smiling. "I wouldn't turn down free pizza and beer."

Posted: **Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:22 pm**

Clay looks into Albert's eyes with seriousness, "Well you got spunk, I have to give you that. But I want to warn you about this whole mess. If you open this door, it's not something you come back from completely whole. You have to be willing to do things, you may have never felt yourself capable of doing." He lets it sink in for a second. "If you're still up for it, then at lest you've been warned. Pizza sounds great. Lead the way."

Posted: **Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:22 pm**

Albert looks into Clay's eyes and realising he is being serious, suppresses the wise-ass quip he was about deliver.

"Right, it's probably best if we're not seen leaving together. My digs in town are Flat 4, The Old School House, West Street. Go left out the main campus entrance, follow for a quarter mile and West Street is on your right hand side. The Old School House is about 800 yards down on the left, on the corner with West Dean Street. If you leave now, I'll lock up here and follow you in 5 minutes."

Posted: **Mon Sep 23, 2013 5:41 pm**

Clay sighs, "Ok then, the names Clay. Welcome aboard. Liz you good to go?"

Posted: **Tue Sep 24, 2013 4:29 am**

"Yup, all set," says Liz, gathering her things.

Posted: **Tue Sep 24, 2013 4:37 am**

As we head out I turn back. "Hey can you bring the pics you took of the crime scene, there might be a clue in there. I think they could be worth a look. See you back at your place." And we head out.

Posted: **Tue Sep 24, 2013 7:42 am**

Albert gives them a few minutes, spending the time just making sure that he has everything and that the lab is left in good order. He locks up, put's the key in it's hiding place and heads home.

Posted: **Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:16 pm**

Clay, Liz, Albert - go here

Play@YSDC

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