SLA Industries: An Inch From Eden

Post by **Joose** » February 15th, 2010, 22:03

Kt'rr wrote:Go and examine the facility, my brothers. I shall remain here and meditate on the upcoming conflict.

Kt'rr then takes off his helmet, placing it next to him, and kneels on the floor in the middle of the lift, staring fixedly in the direction of the door.

The Shutting Downs · Post by **The Shutting Downs** » February 16th, 2010, 0:16

Eraser will squeeze through, and play up the 'dumb stormer' act

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 16th, 2010, 8:22

It takes a good five minutes to get you through.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 16th, 2010, 17:24

Shelton takes you on the tour. Whether you stop and wait for Eraser at every door (and there are lots) is up to you. If you do it'll take all day. As you're moving around the lab you pass windows on the curved outer walls. Wiping the grime from the thick glass you can see beyond rolling foothills covered in grasslands and punctuated by flowers. Further still the hills give way to evergreen forests.

Everything else you see inside the facility is purely functional apart from a small and well worn rest room. Elsewhere, most of the facility consists of labs, storage, and living quarters. All is grey and dirty with little attention paid to comfort, although in the living quarters someone has painted a mural of a similar landscape to the view out of the window. Everywhere is cramped, like the inside of a submarine, with two corridors running the circumference of the facility punctuated by short radial corridors between them. Bulkhead doors sit open between each junction and every now and then a grimy emergency biohazard suit hangs as a reminder of what Karma facilities do.
Possibly the most interesting room is the construct lab. In here are rows of pens, 12 each side of the room on two levels, holding what look to be skinned child sized apes with smooth faces and no visible features. The technician who attends to them, Celina Conrad, explains that they are experimental Stormers, biogenetically created to be entirely self-contained. They are supposed to be able to operate on the planet’s surface, collecting samples and sending them into orbit in balloons, consuming their own implanted food source and breathing through their skin. So far they seem to have been successful in being contained, but they are working on developing their behaviour. You may be more interested in the huge, sloth like hind claws though, which you are informed are for digging out soil and rock samples. The things look creepy and disturbing, but the technician seems not to notice.

Post by **Roman Totale** » February 16th, 2010, 18:51

Dirk to Shelton wrote:This planet is remarkable - I've never seen anything like it. What can you tell me about its history? Is this natural flora or has it all been engineered? I have been told there is no fauna here, but are there any hazards - other than DarkNight, obviously - that we should be aware of?

Dirk then catches sight of Celina.

Dirk to Celina Conrad wrote: Delighted to meet you Ms. Conrad. Sorry, is it Ms? I must say these are some remarkable specimens you're working with here - what can you tell us about them? You mentioned that you are working on their behaviour - are they hostile at all? Those claws certainly look like they could do some damage. How many of them are on the surface at the moment?

Post by **deject** » February 16th, 2010, 18:54

That is one bizarre creation. Almost makes me hungry, but I'm too creeped out to say for sure.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 16th, 2010, 19:21

deject wrote:
That is one bizarre creation. Almost makes me hungry, but I'm too creeped out to say for sure.

Shelton to Dirk wrote:Oh yes, the planet's entirely natural. No fauna ever developed. Apparently this has given it a unique development of fauna which is both extremely valuable for drug and medicine research, and extremely delicately balanced. As far as we know there's no flora hostile to us - with no animal predators they have no reason to be. The planet's perfectly safe.

Conrad responds to Dirk's questions in a slightly flustered way, smiling and tugging on her hair.

Conrad wrote:Oh, it's miss. Sorry, we're not used to visitors. The constructs are undergoing final behavioural programming. Just ironing out the kinks, making sure they can function independently within parameters. There's none on the surface, all the specimen are in here. The hind claws are quite interesting actually. Genetically they're related to a similar bovesque creature to the Shahantian bull, so the claws are hard - and sharp - as ceramic. They're designed to cleave stone, so they're extremely powerful. Far more than any naturally evolved creature. I'm glad they didn't have access to that knowledge on the Domino Dog project. Far safer as a mining tool.

Post by **Roman Totale** » February 16th, 2010, 19:30

Dirk wrote:It really is fascinating the work you've done here Celina - may I call you Celina? I'm glad they've got you working on these things, I feel much safer knowing that someone such as yourself is working on them.

What are they called anyway? Also, do they have any sort of failsafe mechanism and when are they due to be deployed?

How long have you been on this planet? I imagine that someone with the brains, and looks might I add, of yourself would be in high demand back on Mort.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 16th, 2010, 19:41

Conrad wrote:Of course, Dirk. We've not named them yet, at the moment they just have prototype serial numbers. It's usually the project lead who chooses a name, which is Mr Vickers back on the station. As for a failsafe, there's no need. They're programmed in a similar way to domestic cattle, more likely to stampede than attack, and they're not really big enough to cause much of a trample threat. They're being deployed with the next lab drop. I'm looking forward to seeing their results, although I've really only been a caretaker for them.

We've been here almost nine months now. Tour's up in two weeks, and I'm hoping to go back to Mort after the results from the constructs start coming in positive. I um... I have a habit of accidentally taking unexpected career directions. I think they see me as a loose cannon.

As she's talking about the constructs she puts her hand through the bars and lifts the hand of one, absently looking over its fingers. She seems to be examining them as a machine though, rather than a living creature, with no apparent compassion for them.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » February 17th, 2010, 13:37

Brainrot leans close to one of the creatures.

Brainrot wrote:Hey there little fella'. Do you bite?

Also:

Dog Pants wrote:No fauna ever developed. Apparently this has given it a unique development of fauna

Yes, no development is unique.

Post by **Grimmie** » February 17th, 2010, 14:00

Grimmie stares blankly at the caged wotsits, before giving a little stretch, turning briefly towards the squad before doubling back to un-wedge Eraser.

Grimmie wrote:Right, well. You enjoy looking at your science projects. I'm going to look for tactical weak-points.

I'll head off back to the lift, and systematically look around the place. If it comes to combat (or faking it), I want to know the place inside and out so as to be able to bluff better, later on. I'll take my time and try to get into every room that doesn't require me to put a suit on, and check all doors and airlocks.

Detect
9,1 +7 = 17
Tactics
6,7 +5 = 18

Mostly just for insurance, but I'll be keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, too.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 17th, 2010, 14:15

Gah, fucking fauna/flora. I keep doing that and thought I'd got them all. The construct doesn't react much when you touch it. It definately doesn't bite - it has no mouth.

While on your exploration, Grimmie, you find that the only places that require a suit are the airlocks which lead outside. They also happen to be the best defensible positions, deliberately or not. The airlocks have two doors on opposite walls, as you'd expect of an airlock, one opening into the facility and once to the surface. In addition, there's a 1m by 1/2m port in the side which leads to a quarantine room where samples can be brought in. Used as a gun port, the quarantine room could be very useful in defence of the airlock. Other than that, the interior bulkhead doors look pretty sturdy and there's enough of them to effectively barricade any part of the lab, assuming you can stop someone just opening them manually from the other side. The exterior walls look armoured, but nothing that would stop a decent calibre round. The interior walls are less sturdy but still about as tough as the bulkeads.

On your rounds most of you will at some point notice that some of the 30 or so staff are wearing small lapel badges featuring a lilac flower.

Post by **deject** » February 17th, 2010, 14:47

Excuse me, and I hope you don't mind me asking, but what are these lapel pins that I've noticed a few of the technicians wearing.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 17th, 2010, 14:54

Shelton fiddles with the one he's wearing.

Shelton wrote:They're symbolic. Quite a number of us support the super-organism theory here. That is, that the whole planet acts as a single creature made of its component life. There's reasonable scientific evidence to support it. It simply represents our dedication to preserve the planet in its current state, and relays to others that any research we conduct or actions we take have had the potential impact on Lilac considered. The company has occasionally branded us a cult, but really it's more a sharing of ideologies. Although I have to admit, after nine months in a lab some staff have been known to attach a kind of gaia significance to those ideologies.

Post by **Roman Totale** » February 17th, 2010, 17:48

Dirk wrote:Well, we're not here to get embroiled in ideological, theological or phantasmagorical affairs of any sort. We're here to do what we do best - take out the DarkNight threat.

Whilst my colleagues do a preliminary perimeter run, I would like a run down on key personnel at the facility. I intend to speak to some of them to see what they know about the DN incursion. However I think it only proper that we start by interviewing you, Mr. Shelton - don't you agree? Is there a secure room nearby where we might chat uninterrupted?

Who wants to join me on the interviews?

Also Mr. Pants, I've not managed to scavenge my old HD yet, so can you tell me what my Persuasion rank is plzkthx.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 17th, 2010, 17:54

Your persuasion is 4.

Shelton wrote:Oh, perimeter? Like outside? We're not normally allowed outside without specific authorisation. Erm, but nobody here will try to stop you if that's what you need to do. You can conduct interviews in my office, if you'd like to follow me. Do you suspect an insurgent here in the lab?

Post by **Roman Totale** » February 17th, 2010, 19:15

Dirk wrote:I find it best to suspect nothing and work from a clean slate - hunches and gut feel are essential for investigations, but they can also hamper them too. I will say it is possible that DN have infiltrated this facility, but that is by no means a certainty, and I will make no further conclusions until I have spoken to the people here.

Kindly lead the way to your office.

Actually, can we get some refreshments too? I think the foldship journey has left some of my friends in need of fortification. Bacon would be good.

If we do get some food and drink, we should do some discrete but noticeable scanning of it (checking for poison etc).

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 17th, 2010, 19:28

Shelton takes you to his office, asking a bemused staff member to whip up some bacon along the way. His office isn't large, but it's secure and holds the lab's comms equipment.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 21st, 2010, 9:01

Shelton shuffles nervously under the prolonged scrutiny of several Operatives.

Post by **Roman Totale** » February 21st, 2010, 9:29

Who's joining with interviewing?