CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

A chance occurrence in London's Heathrow Airport leads to a desperate search to find answers to terrible lost knowledge.

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CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by ghill »

OOC:   Place holder for when everyone is reunited back at the hotel.  
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by BenTheRat »

OOC,is this a separate hotel room than before or are we back at the same one?
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by ghill »

OOC:   I believe you relocated to a new hotel after the issue with Liz's Trojan web site.  
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by carnage_lee »

Andy Wade

After seeing that Professor Westerlund gets taken care of he makes sure that they haven't left anything behind. After a few minutes searching the car park, it becomes evident that the others have left and Andy then calls for a minicab to take them back to the hotel. Eventually the trio (Andy, Jacob and Greg) make it back, after asking to be dropped off short of the Hotel, as Andy id feeling a little paranoid.

Once they get to the room, Andy checks that Liz is ok.

"Does anyone have any idea what happened back there?" he asks once they're all settled.
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by Mr. Handy »

Image

"I got my mind blown wide open," says Liz, looking sheepish. "It got flooded by the protolanguage, and I had to write down as much as I could. The actual text is just gibberish, I think, but it could be helpful in understanding the language. I'd better not study it, though. I don't want to start wibbling again."
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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"I think I read about this in Medical school" says Greg, he pauses quickly Googleing something on his phone "its what's known as a memetic hazard....Ummm" he reads for a moment. "So...Memetic information is defined as information with three main attributes. The first attribute is that it spreads from person to person, whether through personal contact or some form of recording. The second attribute is that this information causes some form of distress, whether as benign as mental stress to the individual or as dangerous as societal dysfunction. The third attribute is that it must cause preoccupation–that is to say, it maintains sufficient presence in the host’s mind that either a significant portion of his attention remains focused on it, or it plays a significant part in his decision-making process. Doesn't that describe what we've just seen?"
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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Andy Wade

Andy listens to Greg's explanation, it sounds like gobbledegook to him but does kind of fit with the extraordinary happenings while they were with Westerlund.

"Ok... I did feel 'odd' for a few moments at the same time Liz was affected, right after Westerlund had his seizure; for a moment or two I had this terrible sharp pain in my head... a feeling of pressure, almost as if my head was being squeezed, odd flashes of colour too... " he shrugs. "The Professor had 'his funny turn' right after he studied the pottery ... but I don't think Liz was close enough to get a look at it ... besides we've all handled those items a bit since we got hold of them... how come this 'effect' happened then?" Andy asks, well and truly puzzled.
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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"I wasn't close enough to see what was on the pottery" says Greg "But the first thing I saw when I walked in was the profs stuff on the blackboard...I had the same sort of sensation when I saw that" Greg pauses as though he wants to add more "...you know the pain"
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by Papa Gateau »

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Albert knocks at the hotel door Room service! he pauses a moment Hey guys, it's Albert, let me in!
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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Liz bounces up and opens the door for Albert. "You're not going to believe what happened," she says. "I scarcely believe it myself, and it happened to me! We were talking to Westerlund and showing him the artifacts we...um...acquired, and the writing on the pottery shards made him and me snow crash! We were writing all sorts of bizarre stuff on the blackboard in the protolanguage, and we couldn't help ourselves. The writing didn't actually mean anything. Greg heard of something like this called a 'memetic hazard.' The information is a kind of virus, and we got infected with it. It's just like in the book Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson! Ever read it?"
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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Clay sat in the corner trying to understand what Liz was so excited about. After Albert got there and Liz was still bouncing off the wall he can't help but speak up. "What the hell girl? It was like you were on the worst acid trip I've ever seen. That was some serious shit there and if I'm hearing all this right, it sounds like some drugs where just because you ain't taken it now, you can't still trip. It could still affect you, at the worst possible moment." He gets up and heads for the door, "What if you seize out or it affects your choices when we're in a shootout?" He shakes his head and opens the door. "I need some fresh air."

Clay goes out and does a loop around the hotel looking for all the roads leading in and out of the hotel parking in case they need it. He lights up a cig and takes a puff.
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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Image

Liz looks worried for a moment. "It's both scary and cool at the same time," she says. "I was out of control then, but I feel okay now...I think. I mean, the information is still in my head, but as long as I don't focus on it, I'll be fine. Right?"
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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Albert takes a second to digest the tidal wave of information that Liz washes over him

Whoa there little lady! Let me get through the door and then you can explain to me a bit more slowly! he turns as Claysays his piece and steps aside to let him pass.

He moves into the room and perches on the edge of the bed |Okay, so tell me what happened and what we've learned but take a breath between sentences this time

He sits, nodding occasionally and interjects with the odd question as the others recount what has occurred.

At the end he looks at Liz Well you seem okay - a little high strung maybe but I think Clay is probably overreacting. I'm no expert but I don't think you're brain has been rewired - at least not in a bad way. he smiles reassuringly.

So where does that leave us? What's next on the agenda? he reaches into his shoulder bag and starts handing out fake id and credit cards to those present. My life hasn't been anywhere near as exciting but I did get this lot sorted.
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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Andy Wade

"I don't know where it leaves us.." he shrugs "Westerlund basically said that the artefacts were 'clever fakes' then he goes all .." Andy does a kind on zombie impression, rolling his eyes, head moving side to side in jerky movements. "I suppose we ought to get a tin and put all those shards in it and keep the lid on tight."

"OK... so it's these shards that... transmit something... what triggered it? They looked like the other 'Maltese' fragments... so are they the same.. are our fragments magic .. hang on, this 'thing' has a name right? So it's happened before..?" he looks enquiringly at Greg.
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by ghill »

Greg

If I understand this the message transmits itself, so the prof reads the shards, and writes it on the blackboard, Liz reads it on the blackboard and does the same.*
OOC:   *if I'd thought about this a bit more Liz, would have started typing furiously on her laptop rather than writing on the blackboard and become increasingly frustrated by her inability to get the message across.  
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by Papa Gateau »

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Clever fakes eh? So clever they cast ju-ju on our skeptical resident prof and then on Liz.

Well whatever they are, I think they must be genuine - I can't think of anything else that it could be.
he turns to Liz

You remember everything that happened right? So it's safe to assume that he will too. And we're no experts on language but you seem to understand and know what it was - the words you were writing meant nothing in themselves but it felt like the...er...genesis of language, like the foundations from which language would grow? Am I right?

So for someone like Westerlund this could have a profound affect - he could start asking questions or making noises about it, he'll probably want to seek us out. Anyway, if he starts blabbing on about this, it won't be long before our friendly fire-tamers turn up to see what's going on. I wouldn't put long odds on him making it to his next birthday
he pauses.

I'm sure it won't be long before they two and two together. I don't think we're going to be safe here for much longer. I think it's time to go pay Maria de whatever a visit he raises his eyebrows in mute inquiry, leaving the question hanging in the air.
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by ghill »

Greg

Greg turns to Andy. The whole idea of memetics is pretty new, although clearly the principals of it have been around for ages. So I guess there might be evidence of it happening before, but I doubt doctors would have diagnosed it as anything but a breakdown of some kind. Hell, I bet they've diagnosed the prof as having some kind of breakdown. As I understand it most people think of memetics as having to do with things like propaganda, internet memes, viral advertising that sort of thing."
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

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"I've always been excitable," says Liz. "That's normal for me." She nods when Greg speaks. "I've heard of those things too. I've felt compelled to spend my share of time watching cute cat videos online, but what just happened goes way beyond that. But it's almost exactly like in Snow Crash! The book came out in 1992. I was a baby then, but I read it later. The book featured a language that was the original one that everyone spoke, only in that case it was ancient Sumerian. A memetic virus of sorts was introduced into the language, much like a computer virus, so the language had been divided into many different languages in order to protect people from it, to keep their minds from getting hacked...kind of like mine was.

"Westerlund thought the artifacts had to be fakes because they were made with techologies that weren't known to exist at the time they were supposed to have been made, but what if he was wrong? What if they really are that old? I think that's what Gosshamm believed. But these objects were never dated. Clearly that's what we have to do to prove how old they actually are. Maria Dimachi is an archaelogist too, so maybe she could help with that if Westerlund can't. But we ought to follow up with him before we head off for Albania. We can have a chat with him once he's recovered and try to persuade him not to talk about our little episode."
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Re: CH2-12 Back home safe and sound

Post by ghill »

Andys Mobile Pings - a text message,'We need to meet, I suggest the pub, Westerlund'
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Post by royya »

Quiet and solemn Jacob sat in a corner and read his Bible verses.
It was something else, our holy bible do not explain such things but the Kabala might. We were taken over by a fiendish entity, they were possesed by something in the objects or the words you've wrote were someking of ritual to bring the demon out. Now, could it be the ancient language of Ur that we found out about sometime ago?
We must translate what you wrote on the board
"The most merciful thing in the world is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
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