Play@YSDC

Day 1
11th March 2189
20:00 Earth Central European Time
Barnard's Rest Colony, Titan

The sirens are still squealing as Jojo steps through the door of the 'Claim Jumper'. On the outside it is a dull metal building with small, dark, impenetrable windows. Inside, red warning beacons light the room, and emergency LED lights illuminate the floor. Despite the falling temperature there is still a fug of smoke in the air that tastes like stale tobacco.

Jojo can just about make out a few tables and a bar. There seem to be people still sitting at the tables drinking and the low hum of conversation stops as he enters, someone shouts out, 'Hey, what's going on out there?' but before Jojo can answer the green emergency illumination suddenly flickers on. The floor LEDs blink out and the red beacons and wailing sirens stop. Everyone goes quiet again.

A few seconds later the main lighting comes on illuminating a small grimy bar with around half a dozen chrome tables and a similar number of patrons, all rough looking miners from their appearance. A man stands behind the bar mopping spilled beer off the counter.

Jojo hears the unmistakable sound of CENTRAL, 'Initialising...initialising... kernel reboot...power supply restored...welcome to Barnard's Rest.'

someone shouts out, 'Hey, what's going on out there?'

Jojo waits for a minute for the lights to go back to normal before answering.

"I'm not sure. Does CENTRAL reboot like that very often?"

One of the men stands up from his table which is scattered with empty bottles, 'Of course not...hey, wait a minute, who are you?' he slurs.

He staggers towards Jojo, jabbing his fingers at him, 'What do you know about what's going on?' By this point he is standing close enough for Jojo to smell the alcohol on his breath.

Jojo will look disdainfully at the man's finger jabbing before answering.

"I am the new doctor for Barnard's Rest. I was assigned here when Dr. Holzer died unexpectedly." He scans the others in the room as he continues. "In fact, I lost my way to the medical clinic during all the commotion. I don't suppose anyone here needs a checkup at the clinic and would be willing to accompany me there?"

The man blinks several times, his face uncomprehending. Jojo looks around the room but the other patrons studiously ignore his gaze, even the bartender.

Swaying, the man takes a further step forward, he's standing right in front of Jojo's face, he can feel little specks of spittle as the man talks, 'We didn't have no trouble until you came along, I think you've got something to do with it'

OOC,If Jojo wants to avoid a fight he'll need to persuade this guy to back down, give me a social skill roll and appropriate dialogue, I'll decide if it's convincing enough to have a bonus die

Jojo replies to the drunken man, refusing to back down from his belligerent behavior.

"It really doesn't matter what you think, I had nothing to do with the problems with the lights. In fact, I believe that someone here is quite probably the source of the problems in this sector. It is my understanding that you have been in contact with Sergeant Montrose and he is quite ill. He may have uncovered something and I need you all to tell me exactly what communication you have had with him. If you do anything to interfere with me or my investigation, I shall have to have every one of you quarantined or even arrested."

OOC,Fast Talk 50 [dice]0[/dice]

The man blinks again, he opens and then closes his mouth, clearly not following what Dr Johnson is saying. From the bar area Jojo hears a voice, 'Sit down Alec, you're just making a fool of yourself again.' The drunk turns and crashes back down into his chair.

Jojo looks to see the barman gesturing for him to come over. He's a tall thin man with sandy hair in short, tight curls. His face has a strange ageless quality but he is probably in his forties or early fifties. 'So you're the new doctor? Real shame about Dr Holzer.' He holds out his hand, 'Good to meet you, I'm Stefan Hynes, this is my place.' He pours himself a beer and indicates the tap to query if Jojo wants one too.

He leans forward and speaks in a conspiratorial whisper, 'You're asking about Sergeant Montrose, he could really do with your help, he's not a well man. I've talked to him a few times in the last few weeks, since he took to his room. I've dropped over some food...and some drink, well, okay, quite a lot of drink. The Sergeant has always been a bit of a drinker but it seems to have got a bit out of hand.'

OOC,Sorry I've been away but hopefully will be able to catch up.

Greetings Stefan." Jojo responds. "I was sorry to see that I arrived too late for Sergeant Montrose. I'm afraid his case is terminal. Do you know who he was stationed with before he took to his room."

Jojo looks around before continuing. "I think something strange this way comes and those of us in the know will be much better off. I'm sure you hear things whispered in hushed tones. Let me know what you hear and you'll be in line to reap the benefits."

Stefan looks shocked, 'Terminal, that's terrible, I just thought he was drinking too much. I'm not sure he was stationed with anyone, he's been the Head of Security for some time, he's always had that apartment in the Security Centre as far as I know.'

He leans forwards conspiratorially, 'Sounds like we can help each other out, I do hear things, miners talk, booze loosens their tongues, people going missing, that sort of thing. But I'm wondering what benefits you can offer me?'

Jojo also leans forward. "Well I am the doctor. Not all treatments need to be recorded the same way if you know what I mean." He gives Stefan a wink. "And I have lots of different treatments."

"Right now I'm primarily interested in what people who work at the Waystation are murmuring about. I've heard talk of something called H'rada Theka Pannakar? Also something about a gate across the lake. Or if anyone seems to have been infected by anything out that way. You think that's maybe something you can help me out with?"

'Understood, that's something I could make use of. Okay, what's the word on the street? I don't know anything about 'harada thackery panic car' but it sounds like the sort of crap that they rant about over in the Interfaith Chapel. Not really my scene.'

He pauses and pours himself another drink, again gesturing to Jojo to see if he wants one.

'I'm not sure what the 'Waystation' is either. The gate across the lake sounds vaguely familiar, it might be referring to Pumping Station 6. They've been building that for ages, a year or more, must be a dodgy location, it's been damaged by the quakes a few times, dragging on. Dangerous work I hear, mostly just using the penal miners. But I'm not hearing anything about any infections, pretty sterile out here.'

Jojo waves off the offer. "No thanks. Since an accident needing my attention could happen at any time, I prefer not to have my senses befuddled.

He ponders for a moment as he considers Stefan's information. "I think I may need to check in with the Interfaith Chapel. Thank you for agreeing to work with me. Let me know if you need me."

'Heh, yeah, might be by tomorrow, I have this awful pain in my back' he says, giving Jojo a big wink.

OOC,Anything more you want to do here? Or heading over to the Interfaith Chapel or somewhere else?

Jojo nods. "I got you covered."

Jojo will leave the bar and head back to the medical clinic.

OOC,I assume that CENTRAL is back online and I can access a map showing my path back to the clinic.

At the first CENTRAL interface he sees Jojo asks 'CENTRAL, show me the way back to the Medical Clinic.'

Immediately CENTRAL responds, 'Hello Doctor Johnson, please attend to the monitor screen to see a map to the Medical Centre. Along the floor you will see yellow lighting indicating the route.'

Jojo follows the lighting back to the Medical Centre where he finds Nurse Richards still working. 'Evening Doctor, you're here late.'

'Evening Doctor, you're here late.'

"Hmmm? Is it late?" Jojo says absentmindedly. Then he focuses a bit and continues.

"I thought I might do some more work going through the files. Today has been so busy. Is it usual to have CENTRAL go down? It's very hard to work in these conditions."

'That was very odd, I've never seen CENTRAL go down before, but then we've never had a complete blackout like that either' says Richards. 'I'm just catching up on some paperwork myself.'

OOC,Is Jojo going back through the files looking for nightmares and sleep problems again? If so roll Library Use

Dr Johnson sits down at the computer terminal, finally taking the opportunity to start going through the medical records looking for unusual complaints, like nightmares and insomnia.

Having only managed to peruse one file he is interrupted again, this time by CENTRAL's voice, 'Hello Nurse Richards, I have a call from Marshal Favre.' 'Answer the call please CENTRAL' replies Richards.

Marshal Favre's distinctive French accent comes over the speakers, 'Nurse Richards, I am afraid that Sergeant Montrose has taken his own life.' Richards gasps at this news. 'I'd like you to have his body moved to the morgue, but it might constitute a... ...a biological hazard. Are you equipped to store his body safely?'

'What happened? I mean, yes, yes, we have a Level 2 biological safety rating. That should cover most pathogens. Why, what is the biological hazard?' says Richards. 'Look, I think I'd better discuss this with the doctor, he's here with me...'

Richards comes over to Jojo, 'Did you hear that Doctor, we've had another death.'

Jojo looks up from his medical files as Nurse Richards speaks.

"Hmm? Oh, another death? Yes, that must be Sargeant Montrose." He says absentmindedly. "He's was apparently infected by an unknown agent and we will need to have suitable containment to ensure that whatever he had does not spread."

'An infection? But the Marshal said he killed himself!' says Richards, clearly confused. Marshal Favre, I will initiate a Level 2 biological incident and collect Sergeant Montrose's body. Unless you have any objections Dr Johnson?'

Nurse Richards starts collecting the biological protection equipment and mortuary trolley and Jojo returns to looking through the medical records. He still has hundreds to sort through but it does seem like there is something going on. The number of sleeping tablet prescriptions seems very high and there are a lot of complaints of insomnia and nightmares, all dating back over the last year. A few people also report more troubling psychiatric symptoms, intrusive thoughts and a sensation of being watched.

OOC,Roll Library Use, this will determine how quickly Jojo is able to piece the information together

OOC,Library Use 20 0

Jojo nods to Nurse Richards. "Yes, take all precautions." Then he goes back to scanning the medical records to find if he can begin to pinpoint when, where and with whom the incidents began.

After familiarising himself with the medical coding system used by the late Dr Holzer it is relatively simple for Jojo to devise a search algorithm to cross reference the records.

What he can see is that there has been a surge of insomnia, nightmares, and other psychiatric symptoms. While there has always been a baseline incidence of these problems within the station workforce (not uncommon this far out from the core inhabited planets), starting about one year ago the rate has steadily increased. More recently miners have been reporting unusual intrusive thoughts at the end of their shifts, including powerful urges to wade out into the methane sea or to disconnect their oxygen supply.

By interrogating their employment records he determines that most of these complaints come from miners working Pumping Station 4 and to a lesser extent Pumping Station 5. A number of miners working on Pumping Station 4 also report a sensation of being watched while they work.

He also notices that there are a surprisingly high number of physical injuries being sustained by convict miners working on something Holzer calls the 'Pumping Station 6 site'. While interrogating some of those records he finds that quite a few of these individuals have since left the colony, their records being marked as 'sentence discharged'.

While few of the convict miners complain of psychiatric symptoms, Holzer does note in some records that they seem particularly affected by a new religious movement doing the rounds in the station, although he doesn't give any details. It is not unusual for exposure to the deeper parts of space to trigger religious experiences; psychologists refer to it as 'Space-Rapture.' Some physicians attribute it to cosmic radiation affecting the human brain, while more philosophical types believe it’s a reaction to being forced to acknowledge how small and insignificant humans are in the universe.

Now that he's deduced some information from the records, it's time to loop in security.

"CENTRAL, can you tell me where Virgil is?" Before talking though, Jojo wants to examine the scrapings he got from Sargeant Montrose. He removes the vial and using all applicable contamination protocols, he attempts to determine what exactly he's dealing with here.

In response to Jojo's question, CENTRAL promptly answers, 'Hello Doctor Johnson. Executive Officer Steinmann is currently in the Commercial District.'

Jojo carefully takes the sample he scraped from Montrose and looks at it under the microscope. At first glance it appears like a mixture of a soft sand or dust-like substance mixed in with more filamentous material, like a mold or some other fungus. It has an olive or even khaki colour. Obviously Jojo has no idea how it smells because he is using a Level 2 containment box.

OOC,Can you roll once and note whether the roll is under your Medicine, Biology, and Chemistry skills

OOC,Medicine 80 Chemistry 75 Biology 75 0 Fail fail fail. I've never seen this before.

Jojo has no idea what he is looking at.

Despite its macroscopic appearance Jojo finds the powder and the filaments don't have any obvious cellular structure when observed microscopically. It is quite difficult to work with in the Level 2 biological hazard box, perhaps if he brought it out into the ventilation hood?

OOC,Scratch that. JoJo could take more time to examine the substance, he'd need to take it out of the relative safety of the hazard box. Or he could ask for help

Jojo is disappointed with himself for not being able to focus better. Before he takes any steps to break quarantine, he'll wait for Nurse Richards to return with Sargeant Montrose's body. Perhaps there will be more he can find out in an autopsy.

Richards returns to the Medical Centre wheeling the mortuary trolley. He is still dressed in full biohazard clothing but through the transparent visor, Jojo can see he is white as a sheet.

Jojo cannot make out whether the previous smell persists due to the body being sealed inside the plastic sheeting of the mortuary trolley. In the limited illumination of the emergency evacuation lighting he did not get a good look at Montrose's body but he can now see that the whole top of his head has been blasted off, leaving a ragged bloody hole. As in life, Montrose appears wasted, there are some red sores on his his skin, but his face, arms, and upper chest, basically all of his skin that is visible is almost completely covered with blotches of the olive green powdery substance with a slightly filamentous surface, like microscopic hairs. This has progressed markedly since Jojo saw him alive.

While Jojo is used to seeing dead bodies he's never seen anything like this infection.

OOC,Rolling Sanity for Jojo, 0, lose 1pt Sanity.

Jojo is repulsed by how much Montrose has deteriorated in the short time since he saw him last but manages to settle himself down. This is more serious than he had originally anticipated, but the fact there aren't more bodies out there with these symptoms means there might be time to stem this outbreak... whatever it is.

It's time he sought out the others. They need to be updated and they also need to know what they are up against. Jojo will send Virgil a message that they need to talk.

Jojo's datapad pings. Opening it up he sees that there is a message from Virgil on a secure connection. 'Johnson, Virgil Steinman here. Please reply using our team’s private channel.'

"Right. Maybe we should just meet. Where are you?" Jojo replies to the message on the same secure connection.

Jojo doesn't hear anything back from Virgil but after a few minutes he receives a message from CENTRAL. 'Hello Doctor Johnson. Marshal Favre has instructed me to inform you that she is on her way to the Medical Centre with a casualty.'