The Game Thread

[Huitzil]

0.1 THE LIGHTHOUSE

It's 2600 hours on the Lighthouse, in orbit of the moon Alaundril, "Gateway to the Verge". The massive station has been here for 3 days, and in another 7 it will begin the jump to its next stop, Corrivale. The station is abuzz right now, as right now Brian Cole, a very important official within the Rigunmor Star Consortium, has arrived at the Concord station from the Rigunmor capital world of "Bazaar", and is making a quite public display of "getting to know the Verge" before getting off on Lison to engage in rhodium negotiations. As of right now, he and his entourage are on the Level 3 promenade (commercial marketplace), where he is giving a speech in front a of a statue of Michael Thayne about how unrestrained commerce is the key to peace in the Verge.

In the audience, Jim Gammel stands next to a group of reporters, watching the speech with only about half of his attention, the other half focused on checking his watch every minute or so. Nearby, on a bench in front of the Terra-X Outfitters shop, sits Nancy Harrison, who has sit down here with a stack of news reports and Concord paperwork, giving her tired feet a break before turning in the forms necessary to register her ship and its defensive robot. She's been on her feet all day running from one office to the next, and the speech gave her enough of a pretense to sit down and take a load off. Next to her stands Zippy, her robot, motionless and unarmed, continually scanning and re-scanning the area for any imminent threat to his owner.

About four meters above and behind Nancy and her cybernetic companion, on the "top row" of shops, Finnabog "Finn" Gunnarsdottir is reading a newsterminal in front of a rather large "The Rigunmor Alien Collection" clothing outlet. Dropped off by the "Iron Guard" mercenary company a few days ago, she's checking up on newsworthy happenings while she was in drivespace, as well as looking for public job notifications. She's chewing a bolt, a nervous habit she picked up at a young age, and the depth of the teeth-marks show how displeased she is with the current employment prospects. On the other side of the kiosk Finn is reading is George Kodoma, looking through the public records of Lighthouse comings and goings for any mention of the name "Corazon Parker". He doesn't expect she's still here, but he thinks he can get information on where she went.

Across the "aisle" that the stores line, on the upper level on the opposite side as the Rigunmor clothing outlet, a T'sa named Opium Fenrir is walking out of a bookstore, eyes on his dataslate as it displays his purchase, the latest compilation of reports and autopsies of alien life on various Verge worlds. Sean Jeffries had walked into the store to buy a nice, trashy romance novel -- he is on vacation, after all -- but right now he's spinning a wire rack of 3Ds while staring at Fenrir. He knows it's rude to stare, and that the owner of the shop probably thinks he's some kind of sicko, but he can't help it -- the way the T'sa moves is like a rapid-flowing stream, even when he's doing something as simple as reading his dataslate.

This is the time for general "prologue" stuff. Bump into each other, look around the Lighthouse stores, listen to Cole's speech, go about your business. In about 9 to 12 posts, less if nobody is doing anything, Something will Happen (tm).

[Prince Herb]

O.2 THE LIGHTHOUSE

Nancy listens with less than half an ear to the politician's speech.   Unrestrained trade sounds good to her, but she's more interested in getting her business registered and her ship back into space than in hypotheticals.

[Bjorn]

0.3: The LIGHTHOUSE

"Tanj," Finn mutters under her breath, as she slaps the newsreader off and turns her back on it, shifting the bolt from one side of her mouth to the other.  Ain't nothing worth the time.  Gonna end up cleanin' punkin' 02 tanks at this rate.

Ignoring the clothing shop entirely, she wanders over to lean on the rail over the promenade.  She spends a little time listening, then snorts.  Yeah, right.  'S good fer Rigger wallets, y'mean.  Punkin' suits.  Tuning out the song and dance, she adjusts to slump with one elbow against the railing, alternating between watching the crowd below and the traffic below.  Hey, y'never know -- maybe somebody itching to hire will walk by.  At least it's a cheap way to amuse herself.

Finn:  just idling.

[edit: Was not the first post!  LOSER AM I!]

[Corwin]

0.4 THE LIGHTHOUSE

Seeing the T'sa walk out of the store, Sean sighs, and gets back to picking his trashy novel. There'll be plenty of chances to see a T'sa here. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are they.

Finally getting a book about a holoactor-turned-explorer, who makes first contact with an extremely well-endowed race of humanoid females, Sean moves to the cash register, purchases it and heads outside.

After listening for a few minutes to the speech given by some Rigunmor bureaucrat, he snorts. I'd love to see them try that on Penates.

[Huitzil]

Finn: You can see that below you, Nancy has a stack of papers that look like Concord "new ship registration" forms sitting beside her.

[Ginrai]

0.5 THE LIGHTHOUSE

George continues to look through the records, still searching for any mention of Corazon Parker.  Damn it!  I was sure that she had been here recently!

Unfazed by the lack of results, he went on with his search, knowing full well that he would be considered one of the best in his business should he capture this criminal.

[Dracos]

0.6 THE LIGHTHOUSE

Zippy stands calmly near Nancy, scanning about for any possible threats in silence.

Dracos

[Bjorn]

0.7 THE LIGHTHOUSE

Finn leans a little farther over the railing, to confirm her guess.  Ship registration... huh.  Looking carefully at the woman sitting beside the paperwork, she shrugs mentally.  Probably don't have crew, but might not have money to pay for 'em either.  On the other hand, small ships got... tanj, is that robot hers?

Grinning broadly, Finn pulls herself up before she falls over the railing.  Settles that, don't it?  Now, how the tanj do I get down there?

Finn: looking around for a staircase, elevator, whatever to take me down to Nancy's level -- ideally a route that will let me keep an eye on her, so I don't lose her.

[Edit:  Unclear referent.  Grammar: sucks.]

[Huitzil]

Finn: There's a staircase a few meters to your right that keeps Harrison in full view.

[Bjorn]

0.8 THE LIGHTHOUSE

Finn strolls down the staircase and towards the human, weaving and sliding through the crowd with practiced grace.  It's a little tricky to keep your eyes on your target when you're this short and surrounded by humans, but then, Finn's been this short or shorter all her life.  You get used to it.

Finally getting close to the black-clad woman, Finn takes the bolt out of her mouth, clears and throats, and smiles.  "Hey, how's it goin'?"

Finn: talking to Harrison

[Prince Herb]

0.9 THE LIGHTHOUSE

Nancy smiles.   "Hey!   What's up?", whilst trying to remember if she's met this particular Mechalus before.

Nancy speaks to Finn

[Bjorn]

0.10 THE LIGHTHOUSE

Finn waves her bolt at the paperwork strewn across the bench.  "Hope ya don'tmind me sayin', but I noticed ya were fillin' out the reg papers for a new ship, and I won'ered if ya were lookin' t'hire an engineer.  I just finished a contract, see, and I figgered I been coolin' my heels long enough."

[Bjorn]

0.11 THE LIGHTHOUSE

"Well, sure, honey," says Nancy, looking up.  "That's one of the first things I need.   Have you ever worked on a Rhone-class freighter?"

Zippy simply sits there on the sidelines, keeping an eye on the mistress.

Finn shakes her head. "Nope, can't say that I have.  But I pick things up fast, ya know?"

Nancy shrugs.  "Well, that's cool with me, hon.   If you have the paper to back that up, I'll take you aboard.  And if you know any other hands who're looking for a berth, I'd be pleased.   I'm just setting up a new business here, and I need a full crew to back me up."

Ignoring the second half for now, Finn blinks. "Paper?  What d'ya mean?"

Some kind of proof that you're who you say you are is what I mean," Nancy explains patiently.  "Sorry, it's an Earth expression, maybe not used out here."

Finn grins wryly. "Lady, this is the Verge. The proof that we can do what we say is the fact we're not punkin' dead. I can give you the contacts for the last outfit I looked for, if that'll do."

Nancy extends her hand. "I'm Nancy Harrison, skipper of the Principia Mathematica."

Finn shakes Nancy's hand. "Finn Gunnars--"

Finn and Nancy: IRC conversation

[Huitzil]

0.12: THE LIGHTHOUSE

"The Second Galactic War was a dark time for all of us. Now is not the time for further struggle, now is the time to rebuild. Please, I implore you -- return to your home worlds and petition your governments to open trade freely for all. The stellar nations alone cannot bear this heavy burden. Thank you, and good day."

There is a smattering of light applause as Cole completes his speech, and various camera crews turn off to their reporters for a closing comment. Cole turns to his personal assistant, a tall, slim Mechalus with a typically emotionless face. "So, how do you think they'll take it?" he asks at a conversational level.

"I believe you did your best, sir," responds the Mechalus. Cole doesn't respond, because after a slight chuckle he collapses to the floor, hemhorraging blood from his mouth and nose.

Someone shrieks, and the cameras whip back to the podium, where the Rigunmor executive os shaking wildly and vomiting blood. His human entourage panicks, but the Mechalus assistant takes emotionless control of the situation. "Stand back, please," he says evenly, "Mister Cole requires medical attention. Mister Simmons, please notify the Concord emergency services." He bends over and rolls Cole onto his back, readying an injection of some substance produced out of his attache case with his other hand.

"Mister Cole has a medical condition," the assistant continues evenly, "He will require an injection of benzotryphtamine to steady his heart and to stop his vomiting. Please, do not approach him." After finding a vein, the assistant injects the contents of the hypodermic into the prone man. He then stands up. "In the interests of security, I ask that you all remain here until Concord personnel arrive."

[Huitzil]

0.13: THE LIGHTHOUSE

"Jesus shit!" exclaims Jim Gammel as the pool of blood and bile extends toward his authentic leather boots. He back up, ushering reporters back with him, following the Mechalus's instructions.