URIEL Confronts GRAIL TABLE
Michael
A fleet of three Ministry of Defense cars ferry the full GRAIL TABLE team — David, Catherine, Elias, and the nameless technicians (who I have now canonically decided number six: 2 medicals, 1 electrician, and 3 computer technicians) along with Jocasta and Sophie, up to Brougham Castle. David looks harried, Catherine concerned, Elias tight-lipped as the group enters the castle chapel. David walks over to where Archie is.
"Mr. Ransom, I understand there are some concerns from Granite Peak on the integrity of GRAIL TABLE? Would you mind outlining these before I head back into the simulation to witness what's happening in August of 2020?"
Elias fairly goggles at this opening gambit; Catherine walks up — to back up David, seemingly — and says to Archie, "Mr. Ransom, you must understand that we've never had to abort a simulation like this, and the amount of work and processing time that would be wasted if this iteration were not allowed to process to its completion ... surely Granite Peak can't imagine there's any real danger in continuing this run?"
Rob
OK, so before we start throwing around accusations or bluffs, let me clarify: from the meeting minutes, we know that (with David's permission) Elias created an Anunnaki modeling subroutine that would allow actors within the simulation to detonate "modeled" Anunnaki glyphs and memetic attacks. Is the Revulsion glyph that turned up in Joshua's email just a product of Elias' subroutine? If so, there's really no mystery to where it came from, is it? They told the subroutine to create glyphs, and whether or not that was wise, nobody has actually done anything they weren't authorized to do. My sense was that there was something weird(er than that) about the Revulsion glyph, that it was a new glyph SANDMAN has never seen before, that there's a mystery about how it got into the simulation, a programmer who left this little signature in Latin verse, etc? But suddenly I realize I could have all that wrong.
Michael
The Revulsion glyph was added to the system during a login to the system that Charley couldn't determine the source of. All of the models of memetic infection and glyphic effects added to the simulation four months ago by Elias were just that: models. They didn't contain any Anunnaki "oomph" at all. Whether there was a spontaneous generation of a glyph by the simulation, somehow, we have not yet explored or discussed. But I would say that seems highly unlikely if not impossible knowing what we know about GRAIL TABLE. The current belief is that the Revulsion glyph came from outside the system completely.
Bill
Roger’s talk with the spirits hasn’t informed him whether an agent put in the glyph or it was spontaneous, but he’s leaning towards spontaneous, given the grounds the sim is running on. He’s still open to someone (Elias) having put it in, but either way, the important thing is to stop something irrupting (I-R-R) from continuing to run the simulation and its “music” here.
Jo seeing a spontaneous glyph in the real world also adds to the spontaneous theory.
Rob
OK, good, thanks. So I wasn't wrong. I just suddenly doubted myself and had a premonition of making a big deal about the glyph and then everyone shrugging and saying, duh, we programmed it to do that. OK, give me a minute and I'll have Archie's opener. (ready to e-rupt, irr-upt, aha! - ok, only takes me a few days to comprehend)
"Good afternoon, Dr. Wolf. I know you're anxious to get back inside your machine, and I understand we're on the clock, but I'm afraid we do need to have a talk."
"I'm afraid Granite Peak does have real concerns about GRAIL TABLE. About the safety and, ah, possible side effects of the project." Archie looks at his watch. (How long do we have, roughly, before we'd miss the Convention?) He takes his time with all this, talking in his slow, deliberate way, mentioning the clock, looking at his watch, all to let David get tense about the passage of time and also trying to detect if Elias or anyone else is also anxious about the ticking clock. "Let me be clear, David. What you've done here is astonishing. Nobody doubts your expertise or the sophistication of your work. But what does it tell us, really? And do the benefits of the work outweigh the risks? That's the question the folks at Granite Peak wanted us to investigate. "Now, I know you don't answer to me personally. We [gesturing to the URIEL team] don't personally have the authority to... shut you down or call in a team of SAS assassins, ha ha! [mentioning the idea to see how it lands] We're just here as guests. Observers. And as friends, I hope! So I'm speaking to you as a friend when I say that what we've found here ... well, it isn't good."
(Obviously, there's more, but I'm curious how all the principals are responding to this so far. I actually think I might like to try Enthrallment during this speech, but if I do, will all the SANDMAN trained people in GRAIL TABLE immediately know what Archie is doing and resist?)
Bill
(Enthrallment would definitely explain how Christie's detectives didn't just get shot five minutes in...)
Michael
So first off: any SANDMAN in the room will get the +5 to their Will rolls to resist the Anunnaki source code. That is the resistance built with tons of unconscious training to recognize and resist Anunnaki programming, even without knowing it's working on you (for instance, when you see a glyph and don't make your Will roll to resist, it still affects you and you'd never know it did). But because the source code is so slippery, no one in the room will know you're using it and everyone, GRAIL TABLE and URIEL alike, will resist unconsciously (with their Will+5 roll): the only thing you have to watch out for is a possible crit fail on the actual specific Enthrallment skill roll. With that, everyone — GRAIL TABLE and URIEL alike — will know you put the whammy on them. Sure, URIEL members might realize that Archie is using his neurolinguistic programming "ad man patter"; I would probably give a Body Language roll to URIEL members or something similar to detect. Charley, because of your Special Rapport, will know automatically of course.”
(But there is a hypothetical here that Archie takes into consideration, where some individual GRAIL TABLE members make their "save" and some don't … so all of a sudden you would have people acting maybe counter to their expected behavior; in the room with a esmologist/mass psychologist, that might be a little tricky to explain away.)
So I figure Archie can have "game theoried" all this stuff prior to GRAIL TABLE's arrival.
(On the other other hand, it's of course plausible that people might find Archie's argument compelling on its own!)
Rob
Well, doing stuff is more fun than not doing stuff, so let's go for it. Archie's going to try and juice his spiel with neurolinguistic Enthrallment. He has Public Speaking as a base skill (can't use Performance because I didn't bring the puppets), and then Persuade, Suggest, and Sway Emotions; what I want to do is either Sway Emotions to produce paranoia ("they're on to me!") or Suggest ("confess!") or both. If he can do anything to direct it at the GRAIL TABLE team and not URIEL, or to tip Jocasta to what he's up to (hopefully Roger and Charley already do?) he will. If not, he'll do it anyway. (And if nobody has anything to confess and this is a big flop, he'll try to make it worthwhile by just impressing upon David the danger of what he's playing with - a "scared straight" intervention.)
Michael
Awesome. So the first roll is the Public Speaking roll. No modifiers, just straight up.
Rob
>> CRIT FAILURE
damn it
well I'm glad I didn't cut and paste the whole cool spiel I definitely didn't just type out
Michael
No, no, the spiel goes on just as however you describe it! It's just now a) it goes over poorly, and b) so poorly that it sabotages the Enthrallment from the outset.
Leonard
hoo boy
Michael
I mean, what this means is that the performance of these words is technically poor; stammering, circumlocution, flat affect, whatever you think makes sense under the circumstances. Nerves? Whatever.
Rob
OK, maybe Archie is more keyed up than he meant to be, rattled by the weirdness with the crows, out of his depth with all this computer stuff. (Always bring the puppets!) But what he says is something like this: "GRAIL TABLE is dangerous, David. We encountered an Anunnaki glyph inside the simulation. Not a model, a genuine glyph, with real power, and not one we've seen before. Your simulation is compromised and contaminated.”
“But it's worse than that. The contamination is spreading into the real world. This whole area is clearly a subduction zone, or a site of historical significance to the opposition, or something. In only a few days here, every member of my team has encountered evidence of History B phenomena, with this castle at the epicenter."
"Just how did the opposition get that glyph into the GRAIL TABLE computers? At first I was afraid the computer might have created it itself. But Charley explained to me, a computer can only process what you feed it. It's like the boys at IBM say: garbage in, garbage out.”
"That means somebody put it there. That means we have a saboteur among us. And all the people with the opportunity to do such a thing are standing right here in this chapel."
Leonard
Assuming Jocasta can sense how badly that speech went over, she'll add quickly: "Look, David, I'm not completely in agreement with what Archie is saying about the utility of the project. I'm frankly amazed by it, and going into the simulation was one of the more rewarding and enlightening experiences I've ever had." (She's bullshitting a bit, in the belief that it'll appeal to his ego. Lemme know if I need to make any rolls.)
"But, well, utility or otherwise, there is obviously something bad happening here. I was attacked by a flock of birds in the shape of an Annunaki glyph. I'm not savvy enough to know if something from the outside has leaked into the simulation or the other way around, but either way, it's bad. And I'm personally and professionally concerned that while you've created a work of, well, rare genius here, you may be letting what's happening inside the box blind you to what's happening outside of it. No obvious metaphor about anything in our current reality intended.”
Michael
(I think keyed up and slightly aggressive makes sense for Archie's crit fail; that sort of approach would be very much outside of both Archie's personal comfort zone and comfort zone for deploying word magic. And it makes sense, as you say, given the stimuli of the past few hours.)
Jo can give me a Fast-Talk at a +2 to your skill!
I'll see how and if she can salvage it before I have anyone respond.
(Archie is the bad cop and Jo is the good one! I love it.)
Rob
(do you want the Enthrallment roll(s)?)
Michael
No, the crit fail means the Enthrallment did not go off. Sorry, should've been crystal clear here, apologies.
Every aspect of this narrative approach makes sense given all the circumstances, so this looks to be one of those rare sort of "go with the flow" crit fails.
"Right." David says. "First of all. The glyph in the simulation. Who witnessed it? Under what circumstances?" He's pointedly asked Jo and not Archie this.
Leonard
(Personally I'm picturing Archie as so keyed up that he's gone full Basil Fawlty and said something intensely anti-British like "THIS IS EXACTLY WHY YOU PEOPLE LOST YOUR EMPIRE, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND")
(Oh boy and here's where Jo's medication regimen is gonna sink her...)
(Actually, as a point of clarification just because I can't remember, sorry: Did Jocasta first notice the in-sim glyph, or did Roger? Regardless, we've all confirmed it now, right? Charley and Archie saw it in the files. She'll basically be honest, I just can't remember who spotted it first.)
Michael
(It was Roger in his sim character Joshua, yeah. Jo wouldn't know Charley isolated the code, but we can get to that. If @Bill B wants to tell David about how he saw the glyph (or not!) that's his call.)
Leonard
(Right, right)
So Jo will respond: "While we were in our simulated identities, Roger was the first to spot it. I was the one who spotted it out in the hills, and one of the locals -- who'd clearly been effected by it -- told me it wasn't the first time he'd seen something like this."
Michael
"Christ," David says. "All right, all right. You said the glyph was inserted into the simulation code? Can we see that code?" Elias quickly follows this up with, "Our security is matchless here, Mr. Ransom. And I can assure you no one here would ever deploy actual Anunnaki technology into our closed system, let alone would any of us even know how to do such a thing." Catherine also pipes up, tentatively, saying, "The ... birds?"
Leonard
"We're all on the same side here, gentlemen," Jocasta says. "We were as shocked as you are now, and we're not looking to judge or scapegoat — we're trying to figure out how this happened before someone is hurt or our shared project is compromised. And yes, birds. [She'll give a quick precis of the events of her hike.]"
Michael
(The team will have to decide if it's advisable to show Elias/David the code — with or without the Latin verse, your choice — but we'll assume we have a Telex printout of it for evidence purposes, in encrypted form of course, so people won't get Revulsed.)
Rob
(Let's hold that, and the Latin, in reserve just a little longer.)
Archie stays keyed up and aggressive (for him). "Inserting the glyph was indeed a tricky piece of programming, Elias. Charley tells me it took real skill for the saboteur to do it and to cover his tracks … or try. I doubt they figured on Charley." Archie pats Charley on the head. I know Mel's not around today but Charley is hopefully just standing there staring intensely and unnervingly as only an INDIGO child can. (can I read Elias' reactions at all? Detect Lies, Psychology?)
Michael
Detect Lies for SURE. I was just about to give a roll to everyone if they have the skill. You can also use Psychology minus 4. I do need to roll them in secret, though, so give me a minute or two to roll some dice for you all.
If you want to give me your Detect Lies or Psych-4 ratings, that would be helpful!
Rob
Archie has Detect Lies 15, Psychology 17-4=13
Leonard
Jocasta doesn't have Detect Lies, and her undergrad psychology is 12, so -4 would be 8.
Michael
Rob, your read of Elias (and GRAIL TABLE) coming to you via DM. Jocasta, you're too tuned into being the active speaker in this drawing room drama to get a good read on their reactions other than yes, Jo finds Catherine's focus on the birds kind of interesting.
Leonard
I feel like a Sensitive roll might be valuable here. If I can use it on all of them I will but if not I'll focus on Catherine.
Michael
Oh yeah! Sensitive is totally called for. I will roll.
Elias looks at Charley. "Mr. Ransom, if Miss Helix found the glyph code, Dr. Wolf and I can help her try to discover how it got on the tapes, if we can just see the code." (I wanted to give Archie some time to consider the Detect Lies roll results, too. Elias will say this after a very pregnant pause.)
Leonard
Very cautiously and kindly, Jocasta will offer to Catherine: "Is there something we should know about the birds? I have some training as a naturalist, but this wasn't like anything I've ever seen. But you all know this area better than I do."
Michael
(I almost wonder if I could pull Catherine and Jocasta aside? Like, she might actually do that as the heat stays high between Archie and David/Elias?)
(It feels like Catherine is looking for a way to defuse all this but it involves something that requires a bit of quiet and focus to explain.)
Sophie, meanwhile, has been watching David's eyes. Like a hawk.
Sophie won't leave Archie's side in this little confrontation.
Leonard
(Sure, Jocasta would have no objection.)
Rob
Archie's still in Poirot mode (in for a penny and all that). He's still getting up in Elias' face, hoping to provoke his anger, and letting David off the hook now. "The saboteur might not be an active agent of the Red Kings. I think they're probably just a dupe, a tool, a temporarily useful idiot. Maybe they think they're, I don't know, druids or in league with the fairies of Olde England. [all spoken with a certain American contempt].”
“But the thing about our opposition is, it can't stay secret. I mean, they'll skulk in shadows for as long as they can, but our attention is the prize they're after. Ultimately, they always need to tell us what they're up to! Publish their manifestos, put up their murals, get their songs on the radio...”
"And so, our saboteur couldn't help signing their work." Archie produces the glyph code, including the Latin, and hands it, pointedly, to David, not Elias. "What do you make of that, Dr. Wolf?" Treating him with respect, letting him save face.
Michael
(heh, I've got two scenes going on, but that's great, give me a moment )
(I almost feel like that deserves a new roll, but I'm trying to puzzle out which skill?)
Rob, would you be okay with a Performance roll at a -2 to model the fact that Archie is doing it without his puppets/Puppetry skill bonus applicable?
I think it also makes sense that being without the puppets contributed to the initial crit fail. They're not just a security blanket for the people Archie speaks through them to!
Rob
(sure, it can't go worse than the Public Speaking roll)
(probably)
>> SUCCESS BY 2
Michael
David peers at the printout, pushing his glasses up his nose in a way that, somehow, makes Archie think of his own professorial way of doing the very same thing. "If I tell you I know what this is and what it says, do I make myself more or less of a suspect?" David says.
Bill
Roger has been glowering at the suspects this whole time. Elias gets most of the heat.
Rob
Archie switches to friendly, supportive. "The only thing I suspect you of is getting too close to your work, David. What is it, and what do you make of it?"
Michael
"That's... that's a passage from the Vita Merlini. The Life of Merlin. One of the rather large corpus of early Merlin and Arthur literature from the early 12th century. Likely written or adapted from an earlier Celtic source by chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth. It's the bit where Morgan la Fay is first introduced, but this... this is written in the first person, as if it's Morgan talking about herself. Not the third, as it is in the original poem when she is introduced. And I most certainly didn't put this in the code."
Rob
"You see? Fairies, druids. Good King Arthur." (Any reaction from Elias?)
Michael
Not much of one, to be honest. He seems nonplussed (still using your original Detect Lies roll here).
(if you all are okay with David proceeding)
(he has more to say)
Bill
Oh, he needs to talk, for sure. Roger would even clear his throat. “So who else knows this poem?”
Michael
"I have the English translation somewhere in my office..." And, just as David says that, Jo and Catherine come out of the office. Catherine steps boldly to David and says, suddenly and forcefully, "Dr. Wolf, as executive officer of Operation GRAIL TABLE, I am hereby relieving you of command pending a complete review of the use of medieval choral sonics in the context of the Operation's computer simulation immersion."
"Yes, yes, that's fine, Catherine," David says officiously and irritatedly, "Now come help me try to find my copy of the Vita Merlini." Catherine stops dead in her tracks and looks at Archie then Jo.
Bill
Roger keeps an eye on Elias. “So you shutting this off, then? Roger makes a motion like he’s headed to the computer components.
Michael
(Oooh, this should be good.) Elias stammers, says, "I should probably get a readout of where the simulation was when it was aborted. It might be useful in the investigation."
"And I should wait to hear from … my new commanding officer."
Bill
Roger looks to Catherine: “This is an investigation now. No one should be looking at anything unsupervised, right? Now, we gonna shut this down for safety, or what?” Roger will take a read on Catherine, and consider if she would the kind to go for a deal. (edited)
Michael
Intimidation roll, I think. Add 2 to your skill for having the weight of SANDMAN (and implicitly Catherine) behind you.
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 1
Michael
David finds his copy of Life of Merlin in English pretty easily and quickly, and finds the relevant passage. He'll show it to Archie and anyone else who is interested. Catherine comes back out to the chapel with David and says, "They... we, David, we want to shut it down. The mantras... I'm sure they've contaminated the local ontosphere. It would explain the birds, the appearance of the glyph... some sort of presence was attracted to the project because we couldn't keep the sound isolated within the chapel."
David: "I reject that entirely. The chants worked. They aren't Anunnaki in design or nature, they were made by humans centuries ago... humans who perfected their prophetic abilities, the abilities that were activated in their brains... like any of the "gifted" members of Operation URIEL here," David gestures sort of vaguely to the team, but probably primarily to Charley because he doesn't necessarily know the specifics of any of Roger's or Jo's or even Archie's "powers."
"We don't go calling them hopelessly tainted by History B Corruption, do we?" Catherine shakes her head, "That's all besides the point, David, and you know it! Why don't you want to shut down this simulation?"
Bill
Roger was waiting for Catherine to shut it down, so as long as no one makes any sudden movements towards stuff, he’s just watching, and waiting for her to get her people to do it. Well, waiting a minute or two— they don’t get to run it forever.
Rob
Archie's slipping back into the more comfortable role of good cop with David. "These lines of poetry didn't just appear here, David. Your work has been tampered with. Don't you want to know who did this?" (and yes, he is interested to read the English translation)
Michael
"I do, which is precisely why I do not want to stop the simulation yet! I want to go back in! We can find out where this came from, together! I can very easily rig a panic button that would dump the simulation and begin wiping the drives if we run into anything too dangerous to confront in there."
Leonard
"David, we believe in the work you're doing, but surely you understand the danger here," Jo says, trying to modulate her tone and not escalate. "We have incontrovertible evidence of Annunaki glyphs within and without of the simulation! There can't be any insight we could gain from it that's worth the possibility of ongoing saturation of the ontosphere. If what's happening in there is being mirrored or reflected by what's out there, it could be making it worse right now, and no amount of time we spend inside will only increase the danger, even if we can leave right away. We could be gazing into the abyss."
Michael
Diplomacy, add 3 to your skill. Sophie seems REALLY interested in the Vita Merlini bit. She rushes back into the GRAIL TABLE office.
>>> SUCCESS
Michael
David says, seething with anger, "I want to know who did this to my simulation. I think... I think the Red Kings must be targeting me for a reason. Because I know too much."
Elias looks upset. "David... David, what are you saying?"
David screams, "Because we know how it ends now, don't we? Four straight simulation runs since we added the memetics and glyphics modules, four straight runs that end with humanity killing itself and the Red Kings coming to our rescue afterwards, promising to heal our planet and ourselves by making themselves our masters again! Do you know, statistically, all I needed was one more run, one more simulation, to prove that humanity would kill itself by 2030 and that in every instance, that catastrophe would mean a final and fatal Second Ontoclysm back to History B??? What do you do at that point? Tell Granite Peak, 'You'd better tell the oil companies to stop spewing carbon into the atmosphere and the Pentagon to stop the arms race in favor of international peace with the Soviet Union and China, or in 50 years the Anunnaki will look like saviors to what's left of humanity?' They'd laugh me out of the room. Who do you think funds SANDMAN??" He's screaming now, and tearing at his hair. Fright checks everyone, rule of 14.
(I'll roll for Charley and Sophie.)
(Charley's fine, Sophie, eh.... )
Leonard
>> FAILURE by 2
(Made it exactly, I think? I rolled a 16 and my Fright Check is 16.)
Michael
No, rule of 14 means that's a failure by 2. Basically you need a 13 or less for any Fright Check.
Leonard
(Yeah, Jocasta is extremely not good at Fright Checks)
Michael
You want to roll 3d6+2, Leonard, for your Fright Check result from listening to this madman who's obviously cracked?
Leonard
ayup
(rolled a 15)
Michael
Sophie runs out of the chapel towards the side door that opens onto the courtyard.
Jocasta loses 1d6 Fatigue Points and is stunned for 1d6 seconds.
You want to roll both of those, Leonard?
Leonard
oui
3 Fatigue, 5 seconds. Sorry everyone! I am a basket case!
Michael
(David and Catherine and most of GRAIL TABLE are pretty shaken. Like a little less shaken than Jo and much less shaken than Sophie)
(Since this was an ordinary human exposition of Ye Most Gross Awfulness, I didn't use the special Madness Dossier insanity tables. This is basically a "non-Mythos" scare in a, say, Cthulhu context.)
(I think Fatigue is a perfect malady for Jo given the energy she's been putting off this mission.)
I gotta check Jo's other disorders, one sec
Leonard
(She's just gonna collapse in a tearful heap sobbing "I'M ON VACATION", if we're lucky)
Michael
(No Severe Flashback for Jo)
Rob
(Archie made it fine: Will 15, rolled 10)
Michael
It doesn't take a Psychology roll for Archie to tell David has had a very serious break.
Rob
Archie puts his hands on David's shoulders, speaks in calm, earnest tones. "David, listen to me. GRAIL TABLE is remarkable. It's impressive. It's the best ride since the Haunted Mansion! But... it's not real. "There's nothing in that machine that you, or somebody, didn't put in there. Your simulations are just extrapolating your own preoccupations and assumptions. "And these pessimistic fantasies you keep cooking up... aren't they just what the Red Kings would want us to imagine for our future? Food shortages, air pollution... sure, the world has its problems. But you don't think we'll have these sorted out by the year two thousand and twenty? Have a little faith in human ingenuity!"
Michael
(Rob: Psychology, essentially a First Aid roll for Archie.)
Rob
>> SUCCESS by 5
Michael
David calms down. The attack he's had seems to be fading, the adrenaline no longer running through his system. "Shut it down. But I want... I need to know how this happened!" as he strikes the stone wall of the chapel, scraping his hands up something awful. "It can't be the sonics, I'm sure of it, we tested them extensively... both without and with the simulation."
"They know. They know what we're up to here, and it's important enough for Them to send their agents." David seems to be substituting one set of very strong beliefs... for another.
Rob
"Well, the Latin, these lines from the Life of Merlin, they obviously mean something to somebody." Now looking around to anyone for input: URIEL, Catherine, Elias? "Who would feel compelled to sign their handiwork this way? Unless we're to believe Morgan Le Fay herself fiddled with the computer..."
Michael
Sophie comes back into the room at just that moment, clutching a Latin copy of Vita Merlini. "A land of fruited trees where there's always music in the air? Nine sisters skilled in the learned arts? Sounds like someone we met recently's idea of home... heaven... to me."
Rob
"The old woman in the pub?"
Michael
Sophie turns around and signs "ZEBULON" so only Archie (and Charley) can see it.
"What I'm saying, is that these mythic echoes, handed down in the poetry, seem to indicate a folk memory of a time before the Ontoclysm. And Morgan represents that time and place, more importantly, she stands as a ruler of that place."
"And King Arthur went there to be healed. The Isle of Avalon. He slipped out of history."
(Sophie is obviously still shaken from David's sanity-shattered rant because she too is getting a bit Crackpot on our asses.)
Rob
(did Charley tell anyone/everyone about the vision at the stone circle? I don't think Archie would have, but that's what put druids and fairies and Arthur and all in his mind even before reading the Latin)
Michael
(I don't think so. If it was hinted that she did, we never did so in character that I can remember. But Charley and Archie did share a moment of recognition at the circle, iirc)
It has been a very busy morning, after all
Rob
(I like the old lady as a suspect, for sure (always nice when older folks learn to code) but Archie's still sure Elias is bent somehow. What's his demeanor at this point? If Archie gets a chance to speak privately (or sign) to Roger, Archie will say "Elias is still hiding something - how do we get him to talk?")
Michael
(I think given the current state of post-rant exhaustion, Archie can definitely whisper to Roger. Elias looks very pale, between David's rant and the possibility of the simulation being imminently shut down. Roger's successful Intimidation roll and interaction so far with David and Elias seems to indicate that if David's now resigned post-rant to the simulation being shut down, Elias is still on some level not accepting it.)
(Like, Elias was very obviously stalling Roger when he was trying to get Catherine to just peremptorily shut it down.)
Bill
Roger signs, a little openly: Axe The Computer, Boss?
Rob
(We're on the same wavelength! If Roger acted like he was going to terminate the program with prejudice — yanking out all the plugs or indeed grabbling the fire ax — I wonder if that would provoke Elias into doing something.) Archie signs "Pretend You Will"
(But we'll have to keep David away from that — if he sees Roger go for the axe he won't take it well)
Bill
Roger has enough Engineering to figure where worst to hurt this, right?
Michael
Oh yeah, definitely.
Bill
He’ll just clomp in his biggest, marine-grunt-est way right in a beeline for the vulnerable spot. “Gonna git this thing off!” (edited)
Michael
As Roger does make his way to the mainframe, Elias runs up to Roger. "Please, don't." Elias clears his throat. "Mr ... Mr. Ransom. I just can't believe you'd think I'd put fellow Sandmen in danger. I am a loyal member of the Project. The work Dr. Wolf is doing here is vital, crucial to our defeat of the Red Kings! That's why I couldn't stand to be running those... neutered simulation runs before we started using modeling for the Red Kings' involvement in human history! And I was proven right! Every time they infect us, cause us to kill ourselves and each other and then, after Collapse, willingly submit to them!"
"If you were to just take a glimpse of the simulation — we can even use a printout of Major Events if you're worried about re-entering the simulation in-character — I think you'll see what I mean. If we have been sabotaged, set to tear at each other like jackals by the Red Kings ... then David's right. This information is even more important to deliver to Granite Peak and Tavistock."
Bill
Roger’s going more bad cop. He rears over Elias standing next to him and growls, in a marine sergeant voice: “You expose me to a glyph, boy? And talk about people tearing at each other?” He reaches out a fist for some electric cords.
Michael
All right, let's give you one last Intimidation roll, see if there's anything else to be had here. Take a +4 bonus to your skill this time.
Bill
>> SUCCESS by 9
Michael
"I ... I gave them something extra," Elias says, his hand raised to Roger but not trying to physically stop them. "The people in the simulation, the masses of billions. I gave them ... belief."
"The memetics and glyphics modules worked fine, but it was only a single factor. The problem was, the Anunnaki memetic weapons models worked the same on every population. But obviously, esmologically, that's never been true. Some populations are more susceptible to messaging, to memetic infection, to … turning. So in this most recent simulation, I made two... improvements. I gave the individual populations across the globe a series of ‘belief’ metrics, to see how easily or difficult a time the Red Kings would have in converting them. And the second was … writing a scenario where one of the participants in the simulation experience would encounter an agent of the Red Kings. To see, again, how that human factor would affect mass belief. Could a single person refuse to collaborate with the Red Kings and their agents and change history? And we've got about ... 2 minutes before that moment of truth arrives for Joshua at the RNC. Don't you want to see what happens next?"
Elias looks at Roger, tears welling in his eyes, a blush of shame ... or pride? on his cheeks. "Joshua needs you, Mr. Martin. The future world needs you to stop the bombing. Prove that we can save ourselves, that David's predictions aren't our doom."
Rob
Hmm. Archie's still not persuaded that any of the simulation outcomes actually mean anything, but Elias sure said the right kinds of things to win him over. So is there some significance to having Roger (Joshua) in particular go back into the simulation? Could anyone go? Or could we just read the printout of major events as Elias suggested before? It's Rogers's call if he'd be willing to go back into the sim, of course, but the idea of "proving" to David that humanity can save itself is just corny enough to appeal to Archie.
Michael
Elias calmly settles down now that he seems to at least have Archie's ear. But he keeps directing his argument to Roger. "Of course, we could simply observe via printout what happens at the RNC, but that would eliminate the experimental factor of a human with free will being within the sim. Right now Joshua is running on automatic, and given his character profile, he'll likely act in accordance with whatever his terrorist comrades want him to do. Whereas if Mr. Martin goes into the simulation now, he can witness what's happening, how these memetic terrorists plan to strike the convention, and perhaps stop them or even find out how they've obtained these glyphs in the simulation."
David, on the other hand, is now fully onboard with Catherine now for stopping the simulation. He doesn't, however, want to wipe the drives. "Further evidence of how this Irruption came to be is on those drives, I'm sure of it. If the data on them can be studied in isolation, without running the simulation to its inevitable conclusion, I think we can find out whether this Irruption was triggered by the choral mantras leaking, as Catherine believes, or by something else." Basically he's asking for a freeze.
Catherine and the medical team are more convinced than ever that the sim needs to be stopped, the drives need to be wiped, and the entire GRAIL TABLE team needs to be debriefed and perhaps treated for memetic infection.
Bill
See, this is where, if Roger really was just a combative, pushy ex-marine, they'd have made a mistake trying to do what looks like wheedling. But he's not. That, and they hit a sore spot: Roger is feeling a little of the guilt of being hands-off the first session, and letting the glyph out there. It's the old confessional 'what we have left undone'. "So, no more running it to see how bad it gets -- we're running it just to figure out how to make it right? To reverse it? Then we freeze it?" He's got more questions on safety and who's in the chair, but with those first questions, the bad cop clearly act drops.
Michael
Elias says, "It wouldn't make sense to keep it running to see how bad it gets, because we know, or can at least suppose, thanks to this most recent run, that humanity is heading towards serious problems yet again." Elias pauses, then says, "The printout of recent events is right there," Elias says, pointing to the Telex, "if I have permission from Mr. Ransom to just read the headlines, I can prove it to you."
"I propose you go in alone, Mr. Martin. To both avoid further contamination with/of the rest of the URIEL team and to see what Joshua can do to stop the attack at the convention. I propose we leave Charley in the god's-eye Controller seat, to help you navigate the scenario. The rest of us remain outside, monitoring the integrity of the tape drives and... presumably monitoring for remote tampering," Elias says with a nod towards Charley's kit-bashed EM detector. "We will need to play the mantras in order for Roger to be immersed and fully active within the simulation," Elias says to Catherine, "but we can remove all non-essential personnel to the office and try our best to soundproof things. I'd remain in the chapel, ears plugged, to monitor the computers."
Bill
Leonard
Jocasta's position at this point is more or less Catherine's: she feels like the thing is probably hopelessly corrupted and that anybody going in would be more trouble than it's worth. (She also privately fears, but will not articulate in front of the GRAIL TABLE staff, that David is way too unstable to go back in.) She doesn't think the drives necessarily need to be wiped, but she does think the whole thing needs to be shut down until we figure out what's going on, in the parlance of the (future) times. She's also pretty sour on going back in herself, given that she's exhausted, frustrated, and has had two major panics/scares in one day.
That said, she is still a big respecter of authority/chain of command, so she'll let Roger make his own decision about going in, and basically accede to Archie on whether or not to proceed at all or not. She won't volunteer to go in unless Roger specifically asks her to have his back, and she's definitely feeling paranoid enough to want to slip away and arm up in case anything goes foul while the sim is running.
"Woah, who'll have my six? I mean, physically. No, I mean, (shit), there, in the simulation? With hands that work there? Charley can't move things, can she? I don't know how they do it in England, but in America, we do things in teams." (Take that, Rambo myth.)
Michael
David says, "I'll go. I've … I've been sitting in the Boss's office for too long. I owe it to GRAIL TABLE, and to all of you," David gestures to URIEL, "to make things right. Roger, in the guise of the Boss I have all kinds of connections and abilities to help Joshua. I'll give you all the help I can muster, whatever form it has to take."
Bill
If Jo looks that tired and edgy when Roger looks her in the eye, he won’t ask. “OK. I’ll go in, one last time. Charley — you got my back. I trust you.”
Mel
Charley seems to grow a little bit taller with Roger’s confidence and says, “Yes, I won’t let you down Roger.”
Bill
Roger checks in one more time with Archie: "With your permission, of course, sir."
Rob
Permission? Archie is proud of Roger for going back in, and touched. "It's just like we talked about, Roger. Show them that human beings are more than just bees in a hive. Thank you for doing this. Be safe.”