<strong>Who</strong>:<strong>Myst-R-OUS-1</strong>and<strong>Vict-R-YYY-2</strong>. Just not together.<br/><strong>Where</strong>: Various locations about Alpha Complex<br/><strong>Why</strong>: To complicate matters necessarily<br/><br/><br/><strong>Vict-R-YYY-2</strong><br/><br/>Taking care that you're not being followed you eventually find your way to Algae-paste Processing Center 287. In the far corner of the vast room, behind one of the huge steel vats, there's a crack in the wall about eight feet high and three feet wide. You know this place well. The crack leads to a service corridor, otherwise sealed off from the Complex but leading to a small connected set of rooms that seem to have fallen off of the Computer's records. You make it about ten steps in when you're accosted by the guard on duty, a tall scraggly looking citizen wearing red clothes that have been artfully shredded to reveal his black undershirt. His eyes point in slightly different directions, but his hand is steady. He is holding a slugthrower, a hand gun that shoots small explosive shells rather than laser beams. You know this man. His name is Bennie-R-PAL-4.<br/><br/>"Hold it right there, sister," he says in a surprisingly reedy voice. He then presses a button on an ancient intercom affixed to the wall with duct tape. You can see the thick gray wire that runs from this box along the side of the corridor and around the corner at the end. "She's here," he wheezes into the intercom.<br/><br/>Within less than a minute you hear the sounds of dozens of boots echoing through the corridor. Some even from behind you - hard to say how they managed that. And to your wonderment you see at the head of a crowd of approaching Death Leopards the Head Honcho himself, who just goes by the name Boss Dog. He's an enormous man who lives "off the grid", and they say that he's got connections in high places protecting your whole gang. Boss Dog is dressed in black synthvinyl clothes with small metal spikes that don't seem to serve much purpose, but sure look keen.<br/><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/d/d4/FatBiker23.jpg)</div><br/>Everyone is deathly quiet for a moment, not wanting to speak before Boss Dog, whose expression is stern and unreadable. Then suddenly he breaks out in the biggest smile you've ever seen on his face. You can count almost four teeth!<br/><br/>"There's my girl!" he growls happily, and the rest of the gang explodes in hoots and applause. "There's the ice-cracking* girl who took out a cork-shredding* CompNode! That was be-kind-rewind* amazing, clone! And you got your jelly-sandwich* Two!" There are similar compliments from the others in the gang, happy to follow the Boss' lead.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">*Death Leopard, like most secret societies, boasts only a casual knowledge of all things of the Ancient World, including the lost art of cursing effectively. They do the best they can.<br/></div></div><br/>"You got to tell us about it, Vict! Come on!"<br/><br/>The party moves to one of the larger rooms, where a keg of illegal synthol has already been tapped. Synthol -- it's like alcohol, which is only a rumored substance possessed by the very highest tiers of society, but tastes a whole lot worse. It does the job, though, given that most Citizens have vanishingly little tolerance for the stuff.<br/><br/>You are implored to tell the story of the CompNode Riot, which seems to have grown a little bit from the actual facts of the matter in the short span of time since it happened. Your call how truthful you want to be, and how much you choose to imbibe, but clearly you're the spotlight hero right now. You even get to sit in the chair at Boss Dog's right hand.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Myst-R-OUS-1</strong><br/><br/>The helmets are heavy, and when coupled with the heavy battery packs it makes progress on your own quite difficult. There are options, of course. You could commandeer a citizen or a bot to assist you. You could attempt to acquire a vehicle. Or you could merely look at this as an opportunity for additional exercise. Or you could ditch the equipment, of course. There's always that option. That valuable equipment that was entrusted to you directly. So there's that.<br/><br/>Any-whoo, you're making your way through the corridors toward Tube Station 29183 when an odd thought passes through your mind.<br/><br/>Sector XTC may contain that which we have sought... for Milennia!<br/><br/>The odd part is that you're like 98% sure that wasn't your thought. It was in your head, certainly, but you weren't really the one who decided to put it there.<br/><br/>But she is so... young! So... inexperienced! She is an embryonic potentiality at best! Why, she's barely a... 3.7!<br/><br/>That one too. It's getting crowded in here. It was a different thought-voice-thing, though, you're pretty sure.<br/><br/>We have no choice. She is chosen! The secret will be ours! She will deliver it to us!<br/><br/>That seemed like the first one again. These voices don't seem to really have normal "inside" volumes. Lots of shouting. Which, as far as you can tell, nobody else that you're passing in the corridors seems to be able to hear.<br/><br/>Very well! Myst-R-OUS-1!<br/><br/>Hey, that's you!<br/><br/>Myst-R-OUS-1! You are our only hope! You will bring us the secret. The secret known as....<br/><br/>These voices sure like their dramatic pauses too. The next word is actually spoken by both voices, in harmony. You can practically hear the quote marks, like they don't really know exactly what this thing is they're sending you to get.<br/><br/>"SEX!"<br/><br/>Then the voices are gone. Hey look - it's Tube Station 29183! Right there. Happy day.<br/><br/>