Play@YSDC

Virgil concentrates on the hushed tones,

listen,50 [dice]0[/dice]

And raises his eyebrows.

She should probably feel guilty for snooping on private conversations, but it's Nicole's job to be nosy so she stores away the details without giving it a second thought.

'Mr Kingsley will see you now.' Rather than a corporate business suite Stacy shows the investigators into a small conference room that has been hastily refitted to serve as a temporary office. Administrator James Kingsley greets them warmly at the door, ushering them inside as he asks Tyson to wait in the foyer. Kingsley is a heavyset, bearded man with red hair shot through with gray (the baseball cap he’s wearing hides his receding hairline), wearing a Hawaiian shirt and khaki trousers. He pours himself a tumbler of whiskey from a drinks cabinet shoved into one corner of the room and offers the same to the investigators before sitting down at his desk. 'It’s the good stuff, from Earth. Not watered down shit like you’d get on some of the other colonies out there.'

He continues in his low, gruff voice, 'As you may have noticed, I don’t waste a lot of time on protocol. I’m interested in results, just like you are. I get it – Corporate sent you down here because we had a low month. But the fact is, a low month here is just as good as a high month on most of the other colonies. We all know that Benedict’s Rest is one of the top producing mining sites operated by Richter Dynamics, and the miners here have the bonus cheques in their pockets to prove it. And it’s been that way since I took over as administrator two years ago. So, since I know you probably can’t wait to get off this windy iceball, what do you need from me to get you back in your offices as quickly as possible?'

"Thank you, Mr. Kingsley," says Sam, appreciating his relaxed attitude, not to mention the free whiskey, which she is pleased to sample. "We'll want to talk to whoever's in charge of the pumps, and to take a look at them ourselves."

Puzzled by CENTRAL’s lack of response to her question about the epicentre of the tremors, Kiara politely declines any alcohol, but accepts a glass of water if one is offered. She raises her hand, like a nervous new kid in class.

“I’d also like to inspect the pumps if I may. Oh, and have you any lab facilities I can make use of? And maybe an ARM? I’d like to take some methane samples and scrapes from internal pipe linings to test for impurities.”

'Feel free to visit the pumping stations, they can be accessed via the maglev railway. Our Chief Engineer is Arnold White, you'll either find him in the engineering facility in the maintenance sector or out on the pumping stations. This is a mining colony so we don't exactly have any laboratory facilities, if you talk to Chief White he can tell you what is feasible in the engineering centre, there's also our rather modest medical centre.' Administrator Kingsley opens his arms and smiles effusively, 'Of course you have full access to CENTRAL, as long as it will not interfere with station operations CENTRAL will be able to give you access to an ARM, but you will need to clear anything going into the pipeline with Chief White.'

"Thank you," says Sam. "The engineering facility will be my first stop, and then the pumping station."

Virgil declines to even decline a tumbler of whiskey; he doesn’t drink alcohol, it’s poisonous. He’s also not impressed by the slovenly lack of protocol shown by the administrator but as the man seems governed by Virgil’s own directive, that of profit, he doesn’t comment. Instead he looks around the makeshift office.
“Vigil Steinman. It looks like you’ve had to decamp from your usual office, Adiministrator Kingsley, what happened?”

Psychology,65[dice]0[/dice]

Virgil analyses Kingsley’s answer carefully for deception. The office setup is unusual and the placement of a new receptionist is also strange. It looks like it was all done just for this meeting.

Kingsley looks amused, 'Ah, you noticed that, nothing to worry about, minor atmospheric leak, maintenance will have it sorted in no time.'

OOC,In 7th edition difficulty is set by the opposing skill for social skills/psychology, so you'll need a hard success to read Kingsley, you could spend luck but I can't see how you could push it

Kiara makes a mental note to ask the Chief for a spare room in which to set up a makeshift lab.

Shaking her head, Nicole declines the drink with a polite smile.

She bides her time, watching proceedings for now. She'll speak up once the administrator thinks the meeting is coming to an end.

For now, she also studies Kingsley's response to Virgil's question, but as far as she can tell his amusement is genuine.

Psychology(60%) - FAIL,Psychology(60%) roll: [dice]0[/dice] I didn't click on the OOC box in the last post, just in case.

Jojo ignores the offer of a drink.
"I'm going to need to see the file for Dr. Henry Holzer's death and access to the base's medical files. I will be conducting my investigation from the medical centre in case anyone needs me."

Kingsley shrugs, 'Dr Johnson, of course, of course, you will be keen to see your new clinic. And to look into poor Dr Holzer's death, although there's nothing suspicious to be discovered there I can assure you!'

His expression changes to one of sadness, 'Ah Dr Holzer, I liked him, he was a good man, but some people just don’t take well to life past the Asteroid Belt. They get out here and something goes screwy – heart gets bad, bowels act up, lose a few screws up top too. I’ve seen it plenty of times.'

He leans back on his seat, clearly getting into the flow of his little tirade, 'And you know, a lot of these colony doctors – they’re a lot like old Western doctors or ship’s doctors. Running from a malpractice lawsuit or something like that. Maybe he got wind something like that was catching up to him.'

Moses pipes up from the back of the room, 'So what's your explanation for the drop in productivity?' and Isabella interjects, 'Any evidence there's a problem with the control software?'

Kingsley sighs as if he is talking to small children,
'The problems are...multifactorial. Staffing, issues with the energy transmission, unexpected cryovolcanic activity. No single thing, nothing simple you can just fix, but merely a temporary aberration all the same, a confluence of mishaps, but we are now back on track. It does not require all this excitement' he says gesturing to the investigators.

OOC,As I was saying in my other spoiler, you'll need a hard (i.e. half your skill) Psychology success to evaluate Kingsley, anyone who hasn't rolled can try

Psychology 10% (5% hard),[dice]0[/dice]

Kiara nods; Kingsley seems like a pretty decent guy and what he’s saying is reasonable.

Sam wouldn't want to play poker with Kingsley; she can't read him.

OOC,Psychology roll (10 / 2 = 5% base skill) about [b]Kingsley[/b]: [dice]0[/dice]

“Would you mind telling us in your own words how Dr Holzer died?” Virgil asks the administrator. “It’s useful to have a real person’s point of view as well as the official report.”

'Ah, Mr Steinmann, I'm afraid I can't tell you any more than is in the official record' says Kingsley with an expression of disappointment. 'Perhaps you could talk to Sergeant Montrose or Nurse Richards about what they found.'

Psychology,Psychology 50 [dice]0[/dice]

Jojo barely looks up as Administrator Kingsley offers his explanations. He'd much rather go over the reports and the actual evidence than listen to a nonprofessional opine about what might be going on.

"Very well then. I will be off to see the clinic. I do hope that it isn't too primitive."