Forums: Campaign Journals: Children Of The Revolution: Jemstone's Cybergeneration 2030 Game (2024)

Sorry for the hiatus. We have had some work/life/illness issues that have kept the game from being played on a regular schedule. Tonight, though, we're back with part two of Chapter 2 of the game.

While investigating the security systems of the Arawn Complex in preparation for setting off the EM Bomb and hopefully taking out the Freakish Goo Monster, the kids come across the following fragments of Binary code littered throughout one of the sub-cores of the system.

01000100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101101 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110011 01110100 01101001 01100011 00100000 01110110 01100001 01110010 01101001 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00001010 01010011 01101001 01101100 01100101 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101100 01101100 01100001 01110000 01110011 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101101 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100101 01101110 01110100 00001010 01010100 01100001 01110101 01110100 01101111 01101100 01101111 01100111 01101001 01100011 00100000 01100101 01101110 01110110 01100101 01101100 01101111 01110000 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100011 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100101 00001010 01000101 01111000 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01101001 01101101 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100101 01101110 01110100 00001010 00001010 01000101 00001010 01010110

01010011 01101001 01101101 01110000 01101100 01100101 01111000 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100011 01110100 00100000 01110110 01101111 01101100 01110101 01101101 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110000 01100001 01101001 01110010 01100101 01100100 00001010 01001001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01110011 01100101 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110000 01100001 01110010 01100001 01100111 01100101 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110100 01110010 01101001 01100011 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01100110 01101100 01110101 01100101 01101110 01100011 01100101 00001010 01001001 01101101 01101101 01101001 01101110 01100101 01101110 01110100 00001010 00001010 01001111 01001100

01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101101 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110011 01101101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101001 01101100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 00001010 01000011 01101111 01101110 01100011 01110101 01110010 01110010 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101001 01101101 01110101 01101100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00001010 01001001 01101110 01100110 01101100 01110101 01111000 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101110 01100101 01110111 00100000 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00001010 00101000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 00111010 01100100 01100101 01101110 01111001 01111100 01110010 01100101 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 00111010 01100001 01100110 01100110 01101001 01110010 01101101 00101001 00001010 01001001 01101110 01110011 01110101 01100110 01100110 01101001 01100011 01101001 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101001 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01101001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110100 01100101 00001010 00001010 01010101 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110 00001010

01000111 01100101 01110011 01110100 01100001 00101000 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101001 01101100 01110100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110100 00101000 01101001 01100011 00101001 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110011 01110101 01100110 01100110 01101001 01100011 01101001 01100101 01101110 01110100 00001010 01000011 01101111 01101110 01110110 01100101 01111000 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100010 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00001010 01000011 01101111 01101110 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 01100101 00100000 01001000 01000001 01001100 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01110110 01101001 01110011 01110100 01101001 01100011 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01110011 01101111 01101100 01110101 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00001010 01011011 01010101 01101110 01100001 01110110 01100001 01101001 01101100 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100111 01100001 01110010 01100100 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110110 01100001 01101001 01101100 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01100100 01100001 01101001 01101110 01011101 00001010 01000111 01100101 01101110 01100101 01110010 01100001 01101100 01101001 01111010 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100001 01101101 01101001 01101110 01101111 00100000 01100001 01100011 01101001 01100100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 01110011 00100000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110101 01110000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100101 01101100 01101100 01100001 01110010 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01101101 00100000 01110101 01101110 01110011 01110101 01101001 01110100 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00001010 01000100 01100101 01110110 01101100 01101111 01110000 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01010100 01000101 01000100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101001 01100111 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100110 01100101

01000010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01100101 01110100 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101110 00001010 01001001 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 01101011 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101111 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100010 01100101 00101110 00001010 01001101 01100101 01110010 01100111 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01110101 01110000 00101101 01100011 01101111 01100100 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110110 01101001 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01101001 01100011 01100001 01110100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110000 01101111 01110100 01100101 01101110 01110100 01101001 01100001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110100 01100001 01100011 01110100 00001010 01010101 01110010 01100111 01100101 01101110 01100011 01111001 00111010 00100000 01000011 01110010 01110101 01100011 01101001 01100001 01101100 00001010 01000011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101111 01110010 00100000 01010101 01110000 01101100 01101001 01101110 01101011 00111010 00100000 01010110 01101001 01110100 01100001 01101100 00001010

If I ever called anything before this the most bizzare event of my life, I was lying.

So…what were we doing?

Facing possible doom from a liquid metal mouse horde, we were following Arawn's instructions to create an EMP bomb. Erk was responsible for most of the work, but Avery was instrumental in getting the needed parts via a bunch of snaking service vents. On the bright side, Erk was able to override a peculiar program that kept the AI from looking up there, which meant Avery could take the elevator back.

It was about then Erk discovered something: Our mystery killer goo was trying to communicate—in binary. I'm not exactly sure how he figured this out, but somehow he left a message, and the message was answered. And it wanted a better form of communication.

It wanted me. Why? Because a huge chunk of me was made of liquid metal, and it could…interface with that. Of course there seemed to be no guarantee that I'd survive the experience, so we all agreed to stay on course: Plant the EMP bomb, lure the killer goo to its location, and activate.

Of course I was the only one strong enough to lift the damn thing. Of course I had to take it to the designated point…

Of course the killer goo was there, impersonating the floor I had to walk on. Before I could even say "oh crap", I was engulfed.

…

What passed, I can hardly describe. This was more than a mass of dead mice and lizards. This thing…this probe…was intelligent. It listed off my biology, and then asked how I was able to live. How was I able to survive in the hostile atmosphere? There are other questions that leave a lot of confusion, until I figure out that it thinks we're on Jupiter. I clarify this information to it, and at first I"m not believed. I give details about how life evolved on a rocky planet (being thankful that I stayed awake in my biology class). It finally concludes that it's not qualified to guide our evolution, and that the other probe was better suited to do so, and then it announced that it was self terminating…

And there I am, back among the living, once again.

And do I ever have a story to tell.

Behold! For I am Thor, God of thunder, come to take away all your useful gadgets and electronics from up on high in your pitiful air ducts! You always try to be quiet in these things but it always ends up sounding like the second comin' of hurricane Zelda. Thank whoever I'm not trying to sneak up on anythin'.

The place was a mess, once I finally got up there. The previous kids had looted one of the vending machines. I briefly considered abscondin' with one of the pocket pies from the other intact one, but then considered how long this place had been locked up. No tellin' if that stuff was any good. I quickly gathered up all the stuff on the grocery list the AI gave me for the EMP bomb. By that time Erik figured out how to fix the software to get me down. Kinda wish I'd waited, I'm gonna be cramped up for a couple days.

Once I got down, Erik starts goin' on about wantin' to communicate with the goo that tried to impale and eat us. No can do bud, that stuff's gotta go.

Skye got the job to carry the bomb down to the trap, 'cause she's the only one who could lift the thing. Next thing we know, the floor pops up and eats her. 'Bout as quickly as that happened, it turned to dust. Skye claims to have had a long conversation with it. It being some alien thing expectin' to be on Jupiter. I wish I could say I thought she was crazy, but we've seen too much crazy s**t.

So, Erik saved his "girlfriend", and we don't gotta blow up the bizarre science facility; we decide it's time for us to go. Before we split, Glory lets us know she's been talkin' to the folks that kicked her Dad out for bein' too psychotic. She wants to bugger off to live with them, but she wanted to give me something to remember her by.

...

Well, I won't forget it, and that's all I've got to say on the matter....

So here I am, scanning through all this interesting source code, and I came across this strange function. Basically it translates to "Everything is fine."

Everything is fine? I severely doubt that in this place.

Ahahahaha. Yeah, commenting that out brought absolute chaos to Avery while he was sneaking around getting the right cables and what not. Sorry, Avery. At least you didn't get maimed, this time.

Wow, honestly though, the more I read into this security code, the harder it is to make any sense of this all. There's just a bunch of random garbage documentation in here.

WOAH, sweet baby coconuts! This is a message from that tentacle monster!!

Okay, now this is some next level sh*t. This isn't just an ordinary creepy monster made of metal, it's now attempting to communicate.

The phrase "direct interface" scares me. Yeah, I'm not a fan of this idea.

Welp, I only have one word to describe this total encounter:

"Aliens"
*holds hands up*

This week's music is the Bear McReary rendition of "All Along The Watchtower", as the kids come to the conclusion tonight that "There must be some way out of here..."

Having averted the nuclear meltdown of the Arawn/Annwn Project facilities, the kids have said goodbye to Glory, who has been taken away by members of the Metallican Collective, a secretive group of full-body conversion cyborgs and their organic children and families. There, she can be protected from her father and his sympathizers, without putting her friends and rescuers in the path of danger.

They are joined by Halcyon Booth, or at least, a clone of Halcyon Booth, supposedly the only remaining "unaltered" child from the Arawn/Annwn facility. The twin AI's who are the namesakes of the facility have been consistent in their repetition: there is information contained within Halcyon's mind that is valuable, and should be carefully stewarded until such time as it can be retrieved and used. The AI's maintain that the information she holds - and, perhaps, Erik holds - is incredibly important.

But what it is, is anyone's guess.

They are also joined by Halcyon3, the Soulkiller-AI copy of the original Halcyon, whose memories are fragmented in ways that have yet to be fully understood.

The kids find themselves back on the mini-sub, headed back toward San Francisco, when Halcyon3 brings a chilling revelation to Erk's attention.

So…we're on our way back to San Francisco.

Erk has some responsibilities to pursue regarding Halcyon and Digital Halcyon. I don't claim to understand what that's about, but it's important to him.

I want to pursue this "alien" thing further. One thing that I learned is that, whatever this "carbon death" is, I'm certain that it's intelligent, and that it can be talked to. We could find out why it's doing what it's doing to us. I mean…guide our evolution? Why? For what purpose?

If we're going to pursue this or anything else though, we'll need help…beyond what our own set of contacts can give us. So I suggested we go with someone Rache might know; someone who wasn't connected with somebody who wanted to kill us.

During the trip back, we begin to rethink going home. Things are heating up. It seems a rogue AI (related to Digital Halcyon), distraught over having her boyfriend bombed to death by the ISA, got ahold of a God Hammer particle beam satellite and wiped out a 10-block radius of San Jose in angry retribution.

We're told that the angry rogue AI's been taken care of, but…dayum!

We could be facing a warm reception back in the Bay Area.

Still, we return. Rache claims that we're meeting a buddy of his.

It turns out to be Mr. Johnson.

We meet in the strangest places.

He brings us back to the Hotel we first escaped from (who'd suspect us being there, after all). We get the penthouse suite facing the good side of the bay. We're fed our favorite dinners (Ramen!), and we're each handed a file.

Mine talks about my Dad entering Betty Ford to deal with his issues. I've been listed as dead. This results in a nice gesture by the ISA to get a new visa…for my sister…my twin sister…that I never knew I had.

Well, that answers why Mom and Dad switched off one week every month to visit Japan. And hey…I have a twin sister…yay?

Now we have a night to sleep over a decision: Take a way out of this life forever, or go in whole hog…starting with the rescue of one Spider Murphy.

I'll be taking the red pill.

Don't judge me.

We headed back to San Fransisco in the sub with Rache. I'm not sure which is worse, the journey or destination. I'm once again thankful for my headphones as Rache sings the same song for five days straight.

Some copy of digital Halcyon has blown up 10 square blocks of San Jose. Our digital Halcyon says she's "Taken care of it". There's too many bloody Halcyons! Erik, you definitely have your hands full.

We were met at the port by Agent Johnson. I can gave him a pass this time; he saved our lives last time at great danger to himself. He drove us back to the very same hotel we escaped from, gave us a luxurious suite with all the trimmin's. He also handed each of us a dossier. Mine was filled with information about a "Spider" Murphy, with the layout of the internment camp she's held in.

I got a choice: get in the limo and go back to somethin' like a normal life, or get in a van and go save Murphy. On the one hand, I get to go back and explore the Arcology, hidin' what I am, and look forward to turnin' to grey dust in a year or two, but probably not get shot at, maimed, chased, or skewered by liquid metal mice. On the other, we can maybe figure out what is goin' on with these alien things that have tried to "evolve" us, and with a little luck avoid becomin' dead in the process.

I got in the van.

We're all programmed, against our will, to do.. something. What that something is, I don't know. What will trigger it, I don't know. When? Where? All damn good questions, and none that I have the answer to. And to be honest, it scares me silly.

This is the news I get from Soulkiller Halcyon 3. Hmm, that name doesn't roll off the tongue well. How about Soulyon? Halckiller? Halcsoul? Yuck, all yuck. OOooooh, Halc3 (pronounced hal-cee). Done. Where was I?

Oh yeah, so let's recap this:

- The world's teenagers are turning into either super-humans or monsters.
- This is most likely because an alien probe thought we were mis-configured.
- There's a hidden "trigger" code in each of our brains to do.. something.

So, I was given a choice, get a "new" life and forget all this, or hop in a van and go out seek out these dangerous questions.

Welp, it's time to get in the van...

Been a while since the last update, mostly due to life and various illnesses and vacation days getting in the way of the players and GM. But we're back!

Having chosen to take Agent Johnson (revealed to be a Soulkillered copy of Johnny Silverhand downloaded into the otherwise brain-dead body of the real Agent Johnson) up on his offer of "doing something more" with their powers and abilities, the kids have taken control of a large, well-stocked van. It's a big, blue TamSet Motors "Camden" model, loaded with sleeper seats, copious built-in cargo space, a reserve fuel tank, and a more. In the van are a series of files and sheaves of information about a Bureau of Relocation "education and enrichment" facility located out in the Southern California desert.

It seems that situated in the former location of a counter-culture festival, now long defunct in the wake of the rise of the ISA, there exists a veritable pre-fab city, housing nearly fifty thousand people swept up from the various unincorporated urban districts of the SoCal Free State and deposited here: where they'll be given good, solid corporate skills packages, enough to get them entry-level positions in many of the up and coming corporations that now make their home in SoCal.

It seems that somewhere in this camp, one Spider Murphy - former Cyberpunk Netrunner Extraordinaire - has been caught up in a ReLoc sweep while doing research on the nature and origins of the Carbon Plague.

The file says that her cover is in danger of being blown, and that the information she has on her could blow the Plague and its origins wide open.

The kids need to get to her as soon as humanly possible, before the BuReLoc staffers at the camp find out who she really is. If she's lucky, they'll just turn her in to NetWatch and the FBI. If she's not, they might just hand her over for one of the dozens of bounties on her head.

On the trip down to SoCal, the kids learn a little more about their powers, Erk figures out that he's got a few things wrong about what he thought it meant to be a Wizard, and Skye reunites with her long lost Aeroboard...

And, as these things happen, they discover that the code word they're supposed to use with Spider just happens to be the elusive Cyberpunk's actual middle name...

Right…all we need now is a plan to break Spider out of this place…

Anybody? We're just teenagers, after all.

No, okay then I guess it's just us…hoo boy.

As we toss ideas back and forth, we make a few discoveries of our own, mainly about the computer security: As in, it sucks. Erk demonstrates this by changing the lunch menus around; the convicts get the good stuff, while the guards are fed convict chow.

This gives us an asset. Slowly, we form an idea: Send Avery and Erk in as CO cadets (I decide that me going in is dangerous; out of all of us, my abilities are the easiest to detect). Halcyon and I act as backup and the getaway when they break our mark out.

Problem: We need uniforms and badge numbers—ones that can pass muster.

Solution: Do a favor for this one guy, and he can deliver the goods.

The "favor" turns out to be a delivery run into a VERY secure area. It's so secure, it has a no-fly zone around it. Luckily, a combination of Erk's noble sacrifice of his soul, cold hard cash, my ability to use a smart-board, and a LEGENDARY line of BS on my part get me through everything…

And I end up delivering a puppy to a very happy little girl…much to the chagrin of her Mom, who's allergic to dog-hair. Turns out I was part of the latest volley between the ex-husband and his ex-wife.

So we get the uniforms. We get a barely-running car off of craigslist. Avery and Erk drive in said barely running car off of craigslist to the re-education facility to report for duty. Halcyon and I report to the nearest rest stop to work on our tans, and wait until we need to leave, in order to perform the pick-up.

Then a minor wrench is thrown into things on our end: BuReLoc comes in with a convoy of vans and busses full of new "campers", and they need to use the rest stop. Hal and I get hit on by guys old enough to know better. I end up giving them my contact V-mail (eA.tm.E@gmail.com) shortly before they drive away.

We realize one problem: Once they drop off the campers, they'll be back.

The best idea we have right now? Drive to the next closest rest area (80 miles away!), and hide the van until it's time to move. We have to re-calculate our departure times, and there's more risk in getting stopped between here and the re-education camp.

I hope their day's turning out easier than ours.

We've got our uniforms, and we've got our forged clearance. Cue the Mission Impossible music.

Everythin' seemed to check out. They let us in, showed us our lockers and bunks, gave us our guardin' gear, and gave us a tour of the base. For lunch we pulled KP, which by their standards is a good post. As we were tryin' to spot Spider, and send her a message, I noticed one of the other guards is also a hacker like Erik. I sidled up and we had a little chat.

Erik managed to get Spider a message without anyone noticing via his "special magic". We had altered the guard schedule to put us at one of the gateposts at night. Unfortunately, our new "friend" is also now posted with us as a senior observer. Maybe they noticed that a couple newbies were pullin' guard duty on their lonesome on their first day. Or maybe it was the busload of new campers.

I guess we'll have to see how well these stun batons work.

'Twas the night before the breakout, when all through the facility
Not a person was suspecting, not even a guard;
Erik and Avery were dressed with care,
In hopes that Murphy is still safe in there;

The ReLoc were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of conformity danced in their heads;
And Sky on her 'Stringfellow', and I on the net,
Had just wandered around for a long RFID scan,

When out at the rest stop there arose such a clatter,
Sky sprang from the tanning bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window Halcyon flew like a flash,
Tore open the door and threw up the sash.

The sun on the breast of the never-ending desert
Gave the lustre to vehicles below,
When, what to her concerning eyes should appear,
But the BuReLoc, and eight loaded vans,

With inapropriate drivers, so icky and sick,
She knew in a moment it must be a trap.
More rapid than viri their trucks they came,
And they whistled, and shouted, and called her name;

"hey, GIRL! now, GIRL! now, let's go out!
On a DATE! at DINNER! out DANCING and a MOVIE!
To the gate of the facility! to help the ReLocs!
We must go! go away! go away all!"

Halc3on sprang to her coms, to her friends gave a whistle,
And away she flew like the glitch in a VScreen.
But I heard her exclaim, ere she flew into of sight,
"HAPPY PRISON BREAK TO ALL, AND THEY ARE COMING TONIGHT!!"

Secure counterfeit passes and badges showing that Erik and Avery are new Guard Cadet Recruits? Check.

Obtain cover vehicle with which to enter the Re Education Camp? Check.

Set up Skye and Halcyon in the Mystery Machine at a safe, ready-to-go getaway spot? Check.

Find Spider Murphy, obtain unexpected secure information about the Carbon Plague and nearly get found out by a guard who appears to be another Cyber Evolved, all while being ordered to help process hundreds of unexpected arrivals?

...Check.

KRAT! FEEK! SONOVA-SUIT!

I had one—count it, ONE JOB to do, and I totally boned it!

All because I had this one IDIOTIC idea that I thought would give me enough lift on Stringfellow to allow a passenger. All I had to do was reshape my hexite legs into wings, and make my aeroboard into more of a lifting body.

All I ended up doing was creating more drag.

I got caught, searchlights went on, and out of somewhere came a missile barreling toward me.

The missile detonated before it reached me, but I had to turn back, having totally screwed up my part in things.

The worst part?

I DIDN’T GET A CHANCE TO PLAY TAG WITH AN ACTUAL HONEST-TO-GOD MISSILE!

When’s another opportunity like that going to come my way?

It turned out, despite all the chaos, despite everything seeming to fall apart, we somehow got Spider Murphy out of the camp.

We had a BuReloc spinner chasing us a good way to make it look good, and we even learned that our van—the Mystery Machine—had a long and storied history to it, going back to the whole “cyberpunk” movement.

It’s kind of like having the Starship Millennium Enterprise from “StarTrek Wars”.

Of course the story didn’t end here with us all having a laugh and driving off into the sunset. Now we’re headed off to some lab in the middle of nowhere. A lab I’m sure isn’t supposed to exist.

This lab apparently holds the origin of the Carbon Death.

My little input about an alien probe I interfaced with in Scotland opens up a new can of worms, and even more questions.

Hopefully where we’re going will answer some of them.

…

…

But…MISSILE TAG! I MISSED OUT! I TOTALLY SUCK!

*cries*

The waitin' was the hardest part. It's hard to keep your cool when your "superior officer" is spouting off reams of information he's gleaned over his last year of BuReloc brainwashin'.

When the time finally came, I think Jackson was getting pretty suspicious. We didn't have that much time to absorb all the information that Agent Johnson gave us to pass as well trained operatives under close scrutiny. From what I understand, Halcyon AI was supposed to give us a little distraction on the other side of camp when the time came. Never got the chance, though as Skye was spotted, triggerin' a missile launch.
What kinda involuntary trade school needs a missile defense system?

Jackson went to check the scanners to see what was comin' and I hit him with a stun baton, although not before he took a [virtual] shot at Erik, knockin' him flat out. I hit Jackson again with my fist a couple times just for good measure after he hit the floor. Spider showed up, but just started yellin' at us about our horrible exit plan. I invited her to jump into a trash compactor, if she can find one.

Once Erik woke up, I had him order us a car. The parkin' lot was too far away for us all to run there and get away, and the car we came in on wasn't goin' to outrun anythin'. Franklin showed up a couple minutes later in the drivers seat of a spinner. I'm not sure I'll ever understand how that works.

We picked up Skye, sans pants (I didn't ask), on the way back to the Mystery Machine, then Erik programmed the spinner to chase us a little before headin' back. Not the cleanest prison break, but we got away.

Spider has a new place for use to go. Another lab that shouldn't exist. We seem to find a lot of these.

Ugh, I'm not really sure what it is. But I don't feel quite like myself after being bitten by those giant virtual teeth.

As we head out to yet another place, I can't help but shake the feeling that this is all wrong. Jackson wasn't a bad person, was he? He had good ideals, he wanted these people to learn and get jobs. He was doing his job, protecting these people.

Was that really a prison or a school? How much did that spinner cost? Who ends up paying for our damages?

All of this, I'm just not sure. But after looking at what we've done, maybe we're the bad ones.

This week's tune of choice is "Come A Little Closer" by Cage The Elephant. Appropriate for the journey of discovery the kids find themselves on.

A day and a night of hiding out in the Mystery Machine, and the kids are back on the road with Spider Murphy. The van is Creepy Candy Van white, the windows subdued and hidden by the camouflage systems built into the vehicle's exterior.

Spider has given the kids a GPS trail to follow, and everyone's been taking turns driving (even the ones who aren't very bloody good at it).

It's 3am, the desert is going and going and going... the road extending straight on into nowhere. Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.

For just a brief moment, Avery - nodding off behind the wheel - wonders if he sees the moon wink out of existence. Wonders if that coyote on the side of the road is the same one he saw twenty minutes back.

But then Spider is awake and telling him to pull over so they can swap out drivers.

She wonders aloud how it's possible any of them can sleep at all, what with Skye sawing logs so loudly in the back.

After some well deserved sleep, we woke to the smell of breakfast: Real bacon and real eggs, fresh from Mexico.

I had no idea that the Mystery Machine was so well stocked.

The morning brought to light an electric fence with all kinds of signage discouraging us from entering (radiation, bio-hazard, chemical spill, patrolled by drones, ad nauseum). Of course our main goal was somewhere on the opposite side of that fence.

Of course someone else had already beat us to the punch…what?

We discovered a small breach in the fence, lined with hexite (like the stuff my arms and legs are made of). It looks like it was used to convince the fence that there was no breach, so there was no signal interruption.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, we said our good-byes to Halcyon, and crawled through the hole.

A word of advice: If you're near an experimental facility dealing somehow with the carbon death, and you feel movement under your hexite feet, don't punch the ground.

Ants…cyber-evolved ants. Avery could detect some sort of consciousness from them, while Erk could detect some sort of distributed computer network coming from them, so of course he transmitted a HELLO message to them.

Another word of advice: If you're a wizard, never ever ever EVER transmit to a swarm of cyber-evolved ants.

They all noticed him. They all started combining and grouping together as they ambled toward him, becoming a GINORMOUS super ant. Erk somehow turned himself virtually invisible, and super ant went away shortly afterward.

There was some brief deliberation on whether or not we should turn back, but of course we're teenagers and therefore immortal. We forged on ahead.

When the heat was approaching ohmigod unbearable levels, we found what used to be a hidden box canyon. At the bottom was an open bunker door. The open bunker door was almost as interesting as the fact that the sides of the walls looked smooth. Upon closer inspection, the walls were made up of very fine grooves…ant sized grooves.

Oh, this just gets better and better.

We find that any lighting inside is largely worn out, but that's no problem. The swarms of cyber ants along the walls glow a nice pleasant glow as they march along, little pieces of copper or whatever in their little cyber ant jaws.

So, offered a choice of going left (toward the ant dominated AI core) or right (to the former ops center), we went right.

As it turned out, that was the better of the two decisions. We learned that the ones who "beat us to the punch" had already fled with the notes, but they also left behind copious amounts of information in the form of bar codes on the dry-erase board.

This is what we were able to get:

• The main AI core was completely overrun by the Hive, our cyber ants.

• They were attracted to Wizards, in a rather aggressive way (stay cloaked, Erk!).

• There was a secondary, lead-encased core, but the cyber ants were in the way.

* The cyber ants could possibly be wiped out by an EMP or copious amounts of electricity, but that meant getting to the reactor, and again the cyber ants were in our way.

• The cyber ants seemed to ignore anything made of hexite.

So…three guesses who in our little group can cover themselves head to toe in hexite?

I don't trust these people. Leading us to a desert "something" with security fences that are already broken into. What does Murphy know about this place? Someone left signs throughout, warning us of the dangers. Is she doing this on purpose? Trying to kill us?

Sky wakes up an army of cyber ants (maybe intentionally, I'm still not sure about her). Where do they lash out? Directly at me.

Avery says he hears something in the ants, but he doesn't know what specifically. Is he telling me everything?

Can I trust anyone here?

Oh, and there is some sort of cyber hive down here eating at some AI core... that's how you get cyber ants.

Today was an exercise in ignorin' danger at every turn. "Turn back, radiation hazard", "Bio-hazard ahead. Do not enter", "Area patrolled by drones" ... It's like someone doesn't want us around. Of course, if this were a REAL secret base, there probably wouldn't be any signs, right?

The last bit of danger was a bit more persistent than some obnoxious signage, comin' in the form of cyber-evolved ants (the very thing we were tryin' to avoid happenin' in our last secret facility visit). Yes, we are in a desert with cyber bugs keen on silicon. We are pretty much f**ked.

So far the ants have been interested mainly in processed electronic goods, and haven't been cannibalizin' the literal tons of silica just lyin' around. Maybe these really only have the taste for copper. Oh, and wizards are apparently yummy, too. Sorry Erik.

As we explored the not-so-secret base, we passed up more danger signs, but these were only legible to Erik, but the basic gist was:
* We already looted all the paper documentation that would have any worth
* You might be able to kill the ants with an EMP or electricity, but you have to get through them first
* If you are reading this you may already be dead

My skin is going to be crawlin' for weeks, assumin' I live that long.

Tonight's music is Words by Missing Persons.

Skye - having coated herself entirely in her Hexite armor from head to toe and left her clothes (and gear!) behind - has begun her descent through the ten-story deep AI complex in this strange, abandoned facility in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

Erik and Avery, along with Spider Murphy, have begun to busy themselves about the dormitory/operations section of the facility. Unable to follow along behind Skye without the seemingly sapient "ant" colony taking umbrage at their presence, they instead seek to find some way of defending themselves should the bugs decide to swarm the place.

What strange and potentially dangerous things lurk in the hidden levels of the AI complex? And how is Skye supposed to get the backup AI core out of its holding area, assuming she can even find it?

BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS- BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS- BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS- BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS- BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS!

Did I ever mention that I'm not exactly a big fan of bugs? Well, I'm not. It probably has something to do with being largely raised in the Wall.

But who has to go into a cyber-evolved ant colony, has two thumbs and can cover naked ass head-to-toe in hexite armor? This girl.

Presumably, because I do this, the creepy-crawlies will just consider me terrain. So instead of attacking me, they just crawl all over me. Swell.

These things are everywhere. Not only are they made of hexite, but they also glow, and the deeper I go, the bigger they get, and the more I start hearing words…and reading it in the glow patterns of the ants.

Oh, by the way, the only source of light down here is the ants.

So I find the backup AI core, but due to differences in air pressure, so do the ants.

So I let them help me dig out the concrete plug the backup AI core is in—and then snatch it from them.

So, the voice I'm hearing is suddenly realizing I'm down here, and it really wants the backup AI core.

So now I'm running for my life.

I'm being hotly pursued.

By a tidal wave of…

ohmigod…

BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS- BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS- BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS- BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS-BUGS!

I knew it. Sky and Murphy are together on this. They caused this. Sending in Sky alone without any method of communication.

What is in the box?
What did they conspire?
What did she do down there?
WHY IS EVERYTHING BLOWING UP AROUND US?

Is Avery with me or against me? He helped me make that fire bomb, but who says he wasn't thinking about blowing it up with me next to it.

Ugh, my head is still pounding from Jackson's bite. I don't feel right.

The kids, along with the once nefarious Netrunner Spider Murphy, narrowly escape (in dramatic, Action Movie style) from a massive fireball of their own making, a wave of hexite-supercarbon ants hell-bent on adding the kids to their stock of raw materials, and... as if that wasn't enough!... a 1 megaton implosion reaction bomb at the bottom of the mysterious AI complex!

Now, with a concrete plug containing a backup AI core stashed in the back, the group saddles up in the Mystery Machine, headed for... well.. anywhere but here.

And as they do, Erik makes a startling discovery...

♫ ♪
I'm drivin' the van,
drivin' the big ol' van,
pedal to the metal just to escape the man,
Rollin' down the highway 'til the break of dawn,
drivin' the van, with my headphones on.

We make a stop at a hardware store,
to get some tools for the AI core,
then head for somewhere safe to break it out.

We break at a small-town motel four,
the noise brings a knock to the door,
but by this time we had to go checkout.

To get help I go and use the phone,
A secret voice gives us a zone,
so its time to hit the pavement, no doubt.

So, I'm drivin' the van,
drivin' the big ol' van,
pedal to the metal just to escape the man,
Rollin' down the highway 'til the break of dawn,
drivin' the van, with my headphones on.
♫ ♪

What do you think you're doing, Franklin? You can't stop me. You'll N̴̢̧̗̟̜̹̩̮̗̤̘̦̻̦̦͔̺̼̼̖̥̹̠͔̣̙̣͔̼̖͙͇̘̝͎̼̮̤̼̦̣̩̹̥̟̠͙͓̤̟̭̮̘̭̱̗̥̠ͣ͒̈̄́ͅͅͅEͥ̌ͤ͌ͧͣ ̴̛̪͖͕̲͓͇͉̗̝̠̙̳͈̜͎͙ͤ̀͘͢V̢̖̰̲͈̥̳͕̰̼̮̠͍̥̞̹̫̤͎͍̹̤̠̼̜̩̙͇̙̤̅ͭ̑̌̔ͨ̐͛͞͠ͅẼ̪̜̪̺̥ͮͮͮ̏ ͙̣̰͈͍̙̣̣͈̙̩͓͍̭̘̯̟̪͝R stop me. I̜'̏m͔ͣͅ ͒g̦̊ͅo͇i̠̪nͮg̟̤͐ ̳̣to̘ ͌ͅg̞ͯet̝͕̃ ͚͓̓ȏ͓̤u̗͗tͣͅ.̝͍

I̠̘͔̝̍͗̃ͫ'̱̟̳̲̣̼ͩ̐ͯͣͮ̑m̧̦̲̱̜͉̹͚͕ͬͫ͂͊̑͞ ̴͖ͭͩͥ͆͂ͯ̏ͫ͘g̼͖͔̻͍̟̦͈̽̈̔ͦ̋̐̊o̿ͪ͜i̻̭̩͖̗̳͑̔̈́n͖̬̫̙̼̜̭ͣ̄ͧ̒ģ͔͉͇̥̘̺̏̓ͭ̈̂̿ ̘ͥͪ̐̌͌t͖͙̗̫̖͖̀ͮ̒̇̔̅ͩo̫̰͎̱̺̱͗ b̵̫̪̒͋̈̓̊͏r̶̤̝̻̝͙̘͗̏ͭ́̓ͫͅͅé͖͕́ą͎̮ͩͮ̿̀ͅk͍̐̂͢ ̢̢̺̠̠͙̖̜͎̟͗f̤̻̮̫͍͕́ͮ̏̈́̈́ͅr̩̟̲̬̿ͅê̡̺͉͖̱̪ͧͪͥ͌é̶͖̲̟̙̤̎̓͂ͯ͐ͭ͟

You know, despite the fact that ants—

(OMFG ANTS ANTS ANTS GETTEMOFFAME!)

Still bug me a bit, I have to admit: I could learn some things from those cyber evolved ants.

For example: Could I make my hexite limbs bioluminesce? That one seems a bit doubtful, but I did try to make a tool similar to their mandibles…

And I think I'm going to need a lot more practice before I can do stuff like that.

But I'm less concerned about that, than I am about Erik. In the midst of our seeming success in retrieving the computer core, we discovered that Erik's head-journal seems to be full of entries of a rather…paranoid nature. Worse, Erik doesn't remember writing these entries.

With the help of Franklin, the boy-file in his brain, a terrible discovery's been made. It seems the attack by the Wizard at the BuReloc facility did something more than just fry him. He used some sort of Black Ice protocol to try and erase his brain.

It didn't work, but now he's starting to slowly lose his mind. The first indicator is the head journal. And it turns out that maybe doing the one thing that can save Erik means that Franklin's file would be lost.

Franklin would die.

We throw ideas around. We make suggestions of doing everything from downloading Franklin onto the computer core (we can't because it's powered down, and it's already chock full of data), to having me somehow interface with his brain the same way the alien probe interfaced with me (of course after suggesting it, I realized how dumb that was).

So now we're on our way to a pair of submarines, hoping against hope that they might have the resources to help us save both of them.

Tonight's session marks the end of the chapter - we're bidding farewell to one of our players for a time as he's off to be a new father in a few days. Wish him victory!

Tonight's theme music is Make A Move by Icon For Hire.

The emergency number used by Avery triggered a full-scale rapid-response extraction by members of the Full-Conversion Cyborg Nation: The Metanican Collective. Headed by Avery's parents, the two tactical subs were manned by a full squad of tactical-ops cyborgs, and the surprise addition of Glory. Her reunion with Avery, emotional as it was, was cut short as Avery's parents hastened the kids and Spider Murphy on to the subs.

The pilots of the subs, either unwilling or otherwise unable to take the group back to the main Collective installation in the South Pacific, deposits the group at a major Collective research facility in the Monterey Canyon.

There, in among the various research facilities, submarine living accommodations, and the odd mixture of full-borg and full-human occupants, the kids get some disturbing news.

Not just about Erik's mental state, but about the origins and nature of the Carbon Plague itself...

They end up taking us to the undersea shelf off of Monterey Bay...and what looks like an undersea city.

It's quite a sight, inside and out. Despite the fact that the environment is different, in some ways it's like home again; we're in a controlled environment, it's very urban, and the people live pretty close together. Moreover, they're happy to see us.

We're reunited with Glory again. She's doing much better, and sporting a couple of upgrades (some sort of biomonitor and a set of gills—which makes sense). We seem to get good news all around regarding our respective families, and they have the resources to help restart the AI core.

Of course, there's also the fact that we have to deal with Erik's problem.

Somehow his brain is keeping ahead of his self-destruction, but it won't last long. Finally, despite the protests of family, a desperate plan is hatched. It involves copying and erasing "Franklin" the boy-file Erik's got in his head. As this happens, "Franklin" works on fixing the problem areas in Erik's brain.

He dies twice during the procedure. The third time seems to be the charm, though.

While he's going through that, the AI core—by name of Mirabella—comes online. Her holographic avatar looks like a younger (and hotter—Rawr!) Spider Murphy.

As I understand it, Spider Murphy was young, and she needed the money. 'Nuff said.

This is when we start learning more about the nature of the Carbon Plague, and a little something called Stage 2 Evolution.

It turns out that Erik's capable of triggering an "upgrade" of sorts to us, greatly extending our cyber-evolved abilities. It also turns out that I was at least partly right: The original "carbon plague" did come from Jupiter. The stuff from Santa Monica was created based off information from that alien cloud.

This information and its processing takes several days, during the time, my Stage 2 evolution occurs…

(OHMIGODKILLME! IT'SWORSETHANEVERBEFORE! OHGODITHURTSITHURTSITHURTS!)

The difference is like day and night. My hexite transformations happen almost as fast as I think about it. My skeletal structure (!!!) is now made out of the stuff, too. I could make myself taller (or shorter, but why?) if I wanted. I also find that I can interface with mechanical machinery.

That last one is really fascinating, I have to admit.

Now comes the bad news.

Years ago, a man had a dream to reclaim the continent of Africa, and transform it from the nuclear and biological hell it was turned into back into the lush jungle and grasslands it once was—even bring back extinct species. It was called "Project: Sunflower". His vision was a little ahead of the technology—until the first information on the alien carbon nanomachines came to light.

But the ability to save the world was seized by the ISA. Now it's been perverted. Now it's being turned into a method to destroy me, Erik, Avery, and anyone else remotely like us.

We have a potential solution, and it involves us, and our Stage 2 changes. We can pass this onto the others like us. We can make them Stage 2's as well. If we can change enough, maybe, just MAYBE, we can stop these monsters from genociding us.

Maybe we can do more.

Maybe we can save the world.

My parents are ok. Well, they are still kinda scary cyborg terminator things, but they aren't dead. Glory is here, too. They take us off in their subs to SeaLab, underneath the water.

We hoped that they could get Erik's brain fixed. They managed to do it, but he died twice in the attempt. Poor boy Franklin is gone now, though.

Spider worked with their techs to get the AI workin'. Some kinda holographic deal, and the model is based on a younger Spider. Got all kinda crazy information 'bout what's been goin' down with us and all the super-secret crap we've been seein'. Turn's out she thinks Erik can evolve us again ... without killin' us. Goin' through it, we wished we were dyin', but we got some cool new powers, now.

So the AI, Mirabella, tells us that some crazy guy figured out a way to co-opt the carbon plague to cure hunger or somethin' with some sunflowers in Africa. Frankly, I couldn't keep up. Basically though, the government got their hands on it and have reprogrammed it to kill all of us "evolved" kids. She tells us that our only hope is to go out and network with all the other kids and "evolve" them to level 2 to try and take out the sunflower thing first.

I got into this to figure out what the hell this carbon plague was, so I could get it out and save my own skin. I woulda never figured it was aliens from outer space. Now I'm doubly evolved and gonna be roped into savin' the world, or at least anyone else like me.

Things just keep gettin' better. I hope they'll at least let us take a week off.

Well then, I've got new tattoos - two burnt hand prints on my chest from BEING BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE TWICE. Who knew that running defrag on my brain would be so... deadly.

Well, I'm alive (for now), also not crazy (for now), and apparently a catalyst to start some sort of tier two evolution in my friends. I don't think they were too happy about it since they started vomiting up silver again.

Learning from the AI, it turns out this whole carbon plague was in fact... FROM SPACE... and only trying to help us. But the government (as usual) is trying to kill us before we all can evolve.

We've got most of the right people, avery (fire), sky (water), me (earth), and halcyon (wind). All we need now is a bolter (heart)! With our powers combined, we might be able to save the world!