Hey! Teacher! Leave Those Kids Alone!

[Brian]

One way or another, whatever else you plan from this point, the first arc of your journey is complete.  You've made it, all the way to San Francisco.

The city lies before you, a thriving economy of destruction fueling its last days before it vanishes quietly into the nature preserve of a forgotten era.

[Dracos]

Dracos takes the moment to make the first, truly respectful, commentary upon this great city...

"God damn this place looks like shit."

Dracos drives into the city, having rendered the all important first impression.

Dracos

[Rezantis]

"You speak the truth, Drac.  Now find us a city library, or something."

[Dracos]

"City library.  HERE WE COME!"

Dracos drives to the library with all the drama of NOT.

Dracos

[Ginrai]

Recalling that Shade mentioned that whatever was after him in Albany came from San Francisco, Ginrai has one hand on his lucky pipe in case he needs to suddenly use it.

"I take it we're going to the library so as to plan what to do next?  Couldn't we have done that *before* arriving here seeing that there's a very good chance that we'll get attacked while there?

"Oh, and did you get any backup weapon for me, in case I somehow lose the pipe during a fight?  Even if the chances of that are slim, I think it might be a good idea to have something else as soon as possible."

[Rezantis]

Rez bursts out laughing . . . but once he recovers, tosses Ginrai a tazer.

"Tazer.  I hid swords in that bag, because generally you guys can't carry those around easily.  That's as well as we can do, though.  And I want to hit the library because I need some quiet time and a few hours to work.  Ayame's vanished, but if you remember that CD, I need to dig through and find out -exactly- what it's meant to do . . . because if she can't help us, we need to do our own scutwork, and this might be useful.  I don't know what you guys are going to do while I'm there, but recon wouldn't hurt.  Besides, I'd be very damn surprised if they jump us in the library.  They aren't omniscient."

Rez snickers again.

"And I reckon that as long as you don't throw the pipe through any more windows, you'll be fine."

[Brian]

Cruising about through the dessicated hulks of a one thriving city is actually kind of creepy.  You can't get near most of the skyscrapers -- old temporary fences have been erected to keep people away.  One of them was recently (you suspect) demolished, and is currently providing the rubble-couriers their supply.  The only buildings still in operation are all smaller, none over four stories ... but you do eventually find a library, very run down, but still open.

The librarians seem shocked by the presence of non-librarian personell in the building, but after hushed conversations, come to the conclusion that, well, these interlopers are within their rights to use the facilities.

The selection of books is decent, updated regularly until around late 2005.  The computers fare slightly worse, last updated in 2002, by appearances.

[Dracos]

Dracos hunts around for a local phonebook, looking for lodgings and anything else that catches his eye while scanning through it.

Dracos

[Brian]

The phone books on the street booths are woefully out of date.  The librarians (when questioned) admit that they know of a few places, and point some hotels and a few bed-and-breakfast type places out to you.

[Dracos]

Dracos flips open his comp and notes them on the maps he saved earlier while researching SF at the safehouse.  He looks for any in particular that are either quite far or quite close to biowire's corporate headquarters.  He also tries to remember if he saw any general stores within walking distance of the library while driving there.

Dracos

[Brian]

Even though the buildings are pretty densely packed, they're really somewhat sparse when you consider just the ones that are in use.  There's a hotel listed about two blocks from BioWire's offices, and a number further away.  The city's pretty big, even when you break it down to just the the inhabited portions.

There's no general stores immediately next to the building, but there are a few within walking distance.

[Dracos]

"Gin, keep an eye on Rez.  I'll be back.  Rez, don't let Gin break any windows."

Dracos heads out to the general store, heading in and looking for a good poloroid camera and some various good first aid kits.

Dracos

[Brian]

You find everything you're looking for with time to spare.  Rez is probably still looking over the disc with Ginrai.

[Dracos]

Dracos pays for it, heads out, and glances around for fast food places.

Dracos

[Rezantis]

Rez, alternately, has his laptop set up on the desk and is playing around trying to decompile the programs on the CD, trying to do a few things specifically:

(A) Get a damn good idea of -exactly- what this was intended to do
(B) Since it was apparently intended to talk to some external servers, find out what servers and
the login details (or how to derive them).
(C) And since it was meant to be something of a backdoor, figure out what it was going to install and run, and how (if) he can make use of that.