Session 4, part 1: Revelations

Colonel Strong sat brooding at his computer console. The party had managed to lose their pursuers in the maze of habitation rings and return safely to the Wayward Bastard. When they had returned, Doc' Merrill had taken it upon himself to do a full medical examination of their two new passengers, both to ensure that they were healthy and uninjured, and to see if there was anything unusual about them.

It had become more and more apparent that something about this situation didn't add up. When he had first spoken to them on the Bio-Pharm ship, he'd said they planned to return them to their father, and they had appeared confused and said they never knew their father. Add to that the insane lengths that Bio-Pharm had gone to recover them to the other incongruities had led the Colonel to believe that the two children were not what they at first appeared to be, and he was afraid he knew what they would find out about them.


Modern haptic computer interfaces allow people to
interact and manipulate data in ways never before possible

The other thing that trouble him was the death of Cyrus, he'd only known the young man a few days, but the silent pleading in his eyes as he'd handed over the datastick before he died haunted him. He'd spent the last twelve hours pouring the information on it. There were thousands of individual documents, some of them dating back hundreds of years ago. They formed a sort of research log concerning this "Baculum" device. He barely understood half of what he read but it seemed that it had been in the possession of the Cuartrian's since before the fall of the Federation and that it had something to do with interfacing with precursor technology. Skimming the documents from oldest to newest actually highlighted an unusual trend as well; the oldest entries appeared to be strict scientific journals, but as time went on, they began to take on an increasingly superstitious character. The writers of the later entries almost sounded like they were referring to a holy relic rather than a piece of technology.

A muted chime brought him back to awareness, "Strong here."

Doc' Merrill's voice came back over the intercom, "Yes, I've completed my examination, I've identified some...anomalies. I think we should all meet and discuss them."

"Very well, have everyone meet in the briefing room in half an hour." With that, he cut the connection and stood up, he hadn't slept since their return to the ship the previous evening, but at least he could shower before the briefing.

A short time later, the party, including the young girl they had rescued, sat together in the conference room. Doc' Merrill stood up front arranging a presentation on the display.

"Aw Colonel, what's wit' the lit'l girl?"

Strong frowned, "Merrill, is it appropriate for her to be here?"

Merrill straightened as he spoke, "Yes, I've already spoken to her and her brother about this, I couldn't in good conscience keep this from them. She insisted on being here for our discussion and I agree, she has a right to have a say in what happens from here."

"I don't like the sound of that," interjected Tobey. "Just what exactly did you find?"

"Well, let's get to it then, I began my examination with a simple genome mapping. Right away I saw that there was something extremely unusual in their genetic code.  All DNA originating from earth utilizes four nucleobase compounds; Guanine, Cytosine, Adenine, and Thymine combining together in a finite number of configurations called base pairs. So these nucleobases can be thought of as an "alphabet" and the way they are combined together into the different base pairs make up a "language."

"Is there gonna be a corrin' test or sumfing!"

"Bare with me; the important point is that even though earth-born life only uses certain bases pairs, there are other ways the nucleobases can legitimately combined. To continue with the analogy, you can use the same alphabet to spell out words from a different language. This appears to be exactly what we have here."

"Come again?"

In reviewing the young lady and her brothers genome, I've identified no less than 200,000 instances of foreign base pairings." Merrill looked down and sighed as he registered the uncomprehending stares of his comrades."In layman's terms, someone designed them in such a way as to express alien genetic code using Terran biochemistry."

"So...they're like, half-breeds?"

"No, they were genetically engineered. Moreover, I checked their Telomerase line and, based on the relatively untouched non-coding telomere region, I'd say they were created less than two years ago."

So...they're like, toddlers? How come she looks older than the boy then."

"Not sure, I haven't had a chance to really delve into the specific trait expressions so I don't know exactly what is driving their apparent forced maturation. I'm looking forward to it though."

"Yeah, sounds like a corrin' blast, weren't we gonna go get some turdstick and get rich Colonel?"

"Yes, I think given what we've learned we can't complete our contract with the so-called father. I think our first priority at this point is to recover this artifact and disappear for a while. We can decide how we want to handle this situation later, at our leisure."

Forrester cut in, "Ok Colonel, if we're going after this thing we have to assume that someone picked it up from the washroom. If the Hecatan's had recovered it they probably wouldn't have wasted their time with the priest and no one else could have known about it."

Fang spoke,"Where do you suggest we start? The trail is growing colder and colder and tracking in a place like this is difficult at best."

"We know the washroom was designed for methane-breathers, those are rare enough as it is and I doubt that Catalan goes out of its way to accommodate transients. I think if we ask around we can identify methane-breathers that live in the area and go from there." 

Returning to the lower market, The party kept a close eye on Hetzer while Forrester wandered about speaking to the locals. His second stop was at a large open air stall with great piles of assorted junk scattered about. At the counter stood the Ripauri owner wearing a set of faded over-sized coveralls. The Ripauri were tiny little vaguely-amphibian humanoids known for their stubbornness and rapid-fire speech pattern.

"I wonder if you might be able to help me? I'm looking for something of mine and I think someone around here might have found it."

"If-you-lost-it, then-it-is-no-longer-yours, yes?"

Ignoring the jab, Forrester held out his datapad and projected an image of the Baculum recovered from Cyrus' files. The Ripauri's eyes widened briefly in recognition, but he quickly schooled his features into immobility. "What-is-it-that-you-look-for?" he asked mildly.

"It's a piece of old technology, we think it was taken from the environmental washroom over there." he said, pointing. "Do you know any methane-breathers that live nearby?"

"I-might. This-device-is-very-valuable, I-can-help-you. I-know-things, and-people. I-can-help-you-sell-it."

Forrester paused, he had thought about this, he knew how incredibly valuable even non-functioning precursor artifacts were worth, if what Cyrus said was true and this was operational, it would be worth billions. The problem with that was finding a buyer and actually getting paid." He considered the little alien briefly, "I'll have to consult with my comrades, what do you want?"

"Give-me-passage-of-this-place,-an-equal-share-in-the-sale, and...four grams of platinum, or equal in trade."

Forrester nodded and walked back to the rest of the group, who were all sitting at a lunch counter trying in vain to look inconspicuous.

"I've found a Ripauri that says he can help us find the thing, I think he might have recognized it for what it was, or at least what it could be."

"Do you trust him?" asked Tobey.

"Of course not, but he might be able to help us, and he's not asking for much."

"He's just a lit'l snot, I say we just beat it outta 'im."

No one acknowledged Hetzer's contribution.

After a moment of discussion, it is decided to allow the alien to accompany them, but they would be keeping an eye on him.

Forrester returned to the shopkeeper, "We accept your offer on the condition that you can lead us to where the object is, once we've picked up the trail I'll give you your money."

"Yes-good. I-am-called-Shik. This-way, I-will-take-you-to-Breregurln's-home."

"Bre-re...what?"

"Breregurln, he-is--Quwern-trader, only-methane-breather-on this-ring."

The party fell into line and followed the tiny junk dealer as he darted through the crowd. He took them through the market area and down a set of ramps into a quieter and much more cramped area that had many side corridors leading off into living spaces. He stopped abruptly in front of one such corridor that was closed off with a gas-tight hatch, a flickering sign above it showed a universal enviro-hazard symbol indicating beyond it was a methane-only atmosphere.

"We-go-in, must-use-breathers. You-have, yes?"

"Yes, we came prepared," said Doc' Merrill as he slipped his breathing mask over the lower half of his face. The rest of the party followed suit.

"Beyond-there-are-six-flats, but-only-Breregurln's-is-occupied."

"When everyone was ready, the Ripauri called Shik opened the admittance stud and stepped into the small room behind. Once the party was in, the first door closed and they heard the gentle sound of air flowing as the atmosphere was gradually replaced. The respirator masks provided oxygen to breath and kept toxic gases out, but they did not prevent the stinging methane atmosphere from making the party's eyes water and their skin burn unpleasantly. 

When the computer was satisfied that the airlock atmosphere was completely converted, the inner door opened and they all stepped into the broad interior corridor. Quwern were the most common methane breathing species so most areas like this were designed with them in mind, the hallway was quite wide but the ceiling was uncomfortably low. They say three doors on each side of the short corridor, and the one on the far left was open, sounds of rummaging could be heard from there.

Advancing quickly, the party moved up to the doorway and stopped short, instead of a Quwern inside, they saw two cartel members tossing the room. The furniture was overturned and the floor was littered with the contents of every drawer and chest. The gangsters stopped what they were doing and they looked at the group in open astonishment for a moment.

"Blu gonig, tu chaka nahi!"

The girl Cassandra, quiet until then, translated, "He said a bad word."

"Tago in, chani reknu."

"He wants us to leave."

"I'll 'andle this, I'm a corrin' diplomat, I am."

"'Oi, rock'ead. Why don'cha fuck off then."

"Thank you Sgt, that worked like a charm," said Col. Strong dryly, as the aliens, obviously familiar with common, reached for weapons.

Hetzer charged forward, raising his cosh high above his head, misjudged his target and brought it down on its shoulder. The burly Svesh stared at him for an instant, then hauled off and delivered a massive right cross that sent the smaller man stumbling back. However, the two were outnumbered and outmatched, within a minute one was down and the other held on the ground by Col. Strong in a crippling armlock.

Forrester knelt down and addressed the Svesh in a conversational tone, "What are you doing here." Cassandra rendered it into the alien's native tongue, the rough guttural phonemes sounding strange coming from her high clear voice.

The Svesh spit a reply, "He said another bad word."

Strong cranked the arm back a little further and his victim moaned and struggled ineffectually.

"We can do this all day, you have more than one limb we can break off." Forrester said through Cassandra."

"Agh, Ok, OK! The boss told us to wreck up the place and look for anything weird."

"Anything weird? I think you can be more specific."

"No, that's what he said, we were supposed to take this guy, the Quwern to the boss 'cuz he owed him money, and shake him down to see if we could find anything weird, that's what they told us, I swear."

"He stinks of fear, I believe he would not lie." said Fang solemnly.

Shik spoke up then, "These-two-work-for-Srekank. He-is very-powerful-boss. Breregurln-says-he-is-important-but-he-is-not. There-is-no-reason-for-him-to-be-taken-before-Srekank, unless-he-found-something-that-is-valuable, maybe?"

"So, we think this Srekank guy might have found the Baculum." said Tobey.

"It seems so," said Col. Strong as he stood up. "We can't have this one reporting back what we know. Fang, take care of him."

"Tobey, Hetzer, I want you two to start looking into this Srekank, we need to know everything we can about him. Especially where he is and how we get to him.