Charley and Sophie Investigate the RadLab
Mel
Charley does ask Sophie, “Do you know anything about Father Oannes? I asked Dad, he said he thinks he’s a Sumerian aquatic god but said you might know more.”
Michael
Sophie looks quizzically at Charley while she drives into Berkeley proper. "Er, Oannes is the name of a Sumerian water-deity, that's right. He was said to have brought all the arts and sciences of civilization to the ancient Sumerians: architecture, agriculture, astronomy, and so on. SANDMAN historians believe this is related to the kulullû's tendency to teach human beings forbidden arts today, like glyphs and mind control. But Charley, this is very important: in what context did you hear Oannes referred to as Father Oannes?"
Mel
Charley interjects, "Forbidden arts? I don't understand." But then hearing Sophie's question replies, "Oh, well it was just a nightmare I had. A girl dying said she thought he would have protected her."
Michael
Sophie visibly winces. "A girl … dying? In your dream, Charley?" And at this, Sophie gets visibly agitated; her hands grip the steering wheel more tightly, her knuckles turning white. "Did you … did you just have this dream last night?"
Mel
Charley is starting to feel worried something is wrong, but she's not sure what. "Ah, yes, last night. Why Sophie?"
Michael
Sophie sighs. "Charley, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to tell me about this dream in detail. Whatever you can remember." She looks for the turn to head into the Lawrence Berkeley Labs complex. "You know how Mitch is able to see signs of the future coming with his cards, or his unconscious instincts? It's also possible for people to receive messages from their unconscious in their dreams. Especially if they're psychically sensitive, as you are."
Detect Lies-10 roll.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 0
"Sophie." Charley pauses trying to figure out what she wants to say. "I feel like your worried and leaving something out."
Michael
Sophie nods. "I had a dream last night, Charley. I was very emotionally distressed yesterday and I went to bed after taking some pills and I had a very bad, very strange dream. About … about David. And the GRAIL TABLE team."
Mel
"Oh well the trip to Dufton was … was scary and awful. It makes sense to dream about it. Was Oannes in your dream too?"
Michael
"No, but there were people dying in it, like in yours." Sophie looks at Charley as they pull into the Radiation Labs parking lot. "Charley, I'm sorry. I don't want to make anything worse for you right now by bringing this up. I just thought it might be important, or meaningful. Perhaps it was just a coincidence."
Mel
Charley gently touches her arm. "I'll tell you my dream; I don't mind. But I think it might scare you. I think you should go first."
Michael
Sophie laughs despite herself. "I was worried mine would scare you!"
"The dream started at the moment everything began … changing around Dufton. I had spent a lot of time thinking about David during the waking hours yesterday and I was running across the ruins of Brougham Castle to try and get to the simulation room, the chapel, before … something happened. As sometimes happens in dreams, I knew that I had to do things but not why. I got to the electronic locked door of the chapel and tried swiping my card but … the card didn't have the electromagnetic stripe. It had a SANGUSH glyph on it and thus it was useless. The glyph had fooled me into thinking it belonged there, of course, but it wasn't working, it wasn't functional. I felt ashamed I'd fallen for it."
"I heard the nuclear sirens from Dufton suddenly, even though in real life they'd be far too far away to hear. The birds came, in great flocks, forming more Anunnaki symbols in the sky. And for reason I knew I had to go around to the side of the castle where... where David and Catherine and Elias were found. I felt Archie behind me, prodding me to look, saying … " Sophie searches her excellent eidetic memory for the exact words:
We must be willing to mourn with those that mourn, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.'
And I peered around the corner and a lion-thing, an Irruptor, an ugallu … he was feasting on the bodies, David and Catherine and Elias and the rest of them. The muzzle of the lion-thing was covered in blood. I couldn't scream. I was frozen. I felt Archie gone from behind me and looked up to the crows. And then the most frightening thing, I couldn't understand it at all.
"A group of SAS commandos were suddenly in the midst of all these dead bodies. They were leading the ugallu back into a cage, and there was a woman standing there in a lab coat with a clipboard. The ugallu moved out of the way and it was … it was the woman from Granite Peak who brought you to us, Charley. Dr. Haynes. But behind her unfolded these great black wings, like a raven's, and she said to me, ‘Sophie, my dear daughter. When will you wake up?’ And I knew in that moment she was asking me to wake up … wake up to what SANDMAN does. With a shudder and a shout, I woke up from my dream." Sophie shakily gets a cigarette out and rolls down the window. She lights it, and says, "My doubts, I've let them get control of me, Charley. And it's not fair to the team. Especially now. Anyway, that was my dream." She breathes in deeply on her Parliament cigarette.
"If yours was scarier than that, I owe you an ice cream sundae." She smiles uncertainly.
Mel
Charley zones in on Sophie words about doubt and asks with worry, “Sophie, are you going to leave us?”
Michael
"No." She says firmly.
(I'll roll Detect Lies this time.)
Charley believes her sincerely.
"No, I'm not going to quit, and I'm not going to leave. But I also have the right to answers. And I plan to pursue those answers through proper channels. For me. For David." A very long pause. "For you."
Mel
(Before we continue can Charley get a roll to try and interpret Sophie’s dream.)
Michael
Oh, absolutely! One sec
Okay, so this is Fortune-Telling (Dream Interpretation) but that defaults to Occultism minus 3. Since there are these.... links between your dreams, I'm going to give you a +1 to that. So the final roll is against Occultism minus 2 or 13.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 7
Michael
Not bad.
So the baseline level of it being a dream about Sophie's doubts about SANDMAN and whether or not they were responsible for David's death: yes. Absolutely a primary interpretation. But underneath that there's the repeating appearance of glyphs … do you wonder if Sophie is being tempted or even Corrupted by this new-found power she has with creating glyphs for the team? Maybe. And underneath that there is the truly disquieting realization Charley has now: both these dreams involved Dufton, both involved the mutilation deaths of close emotional comrades, both had Archie in a prophetic role, and most importantly, both dreams had Morgan le Fay in them. Charley needs to make a Fright check. Succeed on a 13 or less.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 6
Michael
No, she is not.
Whether this is a disquieting coincidence or something more sinister, Charley is not sure. But she's at least curious about the possibility of these dreams being linked somehow.
Mel
(My instinct even before her losing it with Marshall is that she is sensitive. Capable in all things knowledge but she she’s afraid to be in the field and for good reason. I do think even with low empathy Charley would get a sense of that, but I’m not sure. So, can Charley get a roll to decide how much to share with Sophie? I always thought Charley would only reveal the full dream to Jo, Roger and Mitch)
Michael
I think another Detect Lies roll is called for her but at a +3: +1 for the dream connection realization from your Interpretation roll, and +2 because you've now had time to really listen to Sophie. This is delaying us from the mission now so in a meta-narrative sense the "extra time" being taken here is costing you. All these modifiers for an emotional/social roll, wow. So your effective Detect Lies will be 13. And you can roll it. Basically it'll just tell you if you get a good feeling off of her or not.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 1
Michael
Charley … Charley has had as tough a time getting a handle on Sophie as people who've been in URIEL with her for two or more years! But even so, after a couple of months, Charley thinks she understands what has wounded Sophie (the exact stuff you said above). And for that reason, Charley thinks that Sophie now realizes that Sophie herself is as much an "Indigo Child" as Charley is. In other words, she thinks she can make an ally of Charley out of a mutual motivation to find out what happened to their loved ones: in the case of Sophie, David; in the case of Charley … Charley's mom.
They've both been equally hurt by the Project.
Why not make common cause over it and try to get some answers.
Charley feels she can trust Sophie with the dream, but I think it's also important that Charley realize that these similarities between them might not be a mere coincidence.
Charley isn’t thinking about time or the mission, just the moment. So she takes her time and tell Sophie the entire dream including her journal and crayon drawings of the assembly of 5 and the bird woman.
"Charley, I am so sorry. That must have been horrible to witness." Sophie wipes away a tear or two. "When this mission is over, I want the two of us to talk more about this, perhaps use hypnosis to look deeper into the dream-memories. I have a theory, and I want to say it to you, and I know even admitting the possibility might be memetically ill-advised, but I think we have to find out if Morgan le Fay sent us these messages."
Mel
It’s weird for Charley seeing Sophie so moved by her dream. She has been trying hard not to get caught up in the emotion and horror of it. So, this feels uncomfortable. “Ok. Yes we should do that. Ah so, Berkeley, you have the passes right?”
Michael
"Yes, here we are. I can also scribble us a SANGUSH or two if we need to get deeper into the complex. You're my daughter, I'm a lab technician, and I had to bring you to work this morning because you've got a doctor's appointment, okay?"
Mel
“Ok" And she gives her a thumbs up.
Michael
As Sophie and Charley make their way to the front security desk of the RadLab (and get a "guest" pass for Charley), they make their way to a little gathering spot outside one of the RadLab libraries with some plastic tables and chairs. Sophie says, "Just one second, Charley. Sit down with me a minute." She speaks in a low voice. "I think the only way we're going to get ourselves deep into the lab to personally inspect these students' particle accelerator is to use SANGUSH glyphs. If there are any other researchers in that lab, or safety personnel, we're both going to stick out like a sore thumb. So I can make a couple of them right here if we take about 5 minutes, and we can clip them to our visitor badges. Are you okay with this?"
The 88-Inch Cyclotron Building, c. 1961.
Mel
“Yes. I don’t see any other options.”
Michael
"All right. This … this may take a lot out of me. Just so you know. First one is for you."
>>>> SUCCESS by 6
>>>> SUCCESS by 2
>>> CORRUPTION … 2d6 = 8
Sophie pins hers on for 1 more Corruption and Charley pins hers on for 1 more Corruption as well.
As Sophie and Charley make their way into the depths of the RadLab building to find the state-of-the-art particle accelerator that the two Krane cultists mentioned, they nod perfunctorily to a few grad students and radiation techs who seem to buy the SANGUSH glyph with no issues. (Keep in mind neither of the Krane cultists actually work at the particle accelerator; they are both at the Space Science Labs but obviously lots of Space Science people do research projects with this 88-inch cyclotron, given the usefulness of particle studies to human safety in space.)
I need Sophie and Charley to give me a Will+5 roll (for Charley this is a 20)
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 13
Michael
So as Sophie and Charley enter the 88-inch cyclotron lab, they find there are several "Caves" that allow for proton beams to be shot into various samples, usually of radioactive materials (this is the lab where they discovered the ultra-heavy transuranian elements). And in Cave 5, Charley and Sophie both see, posted above a little human sized closet multiply-lined in radiation-resistant materials, a GU.SHUB glyph meant to keep people from seeing it. Physics (Quantum) roll from Charley.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 5
Michael
It seems clear that whatever function this little closet has, it's to act as a target for the particle beam. Usually a proton beam would be tightly focused on a chemical sample to set off a reaction that would either allow the scientists observing it to discover how the sample reacts or to see how the particles do. As Charley analyzes the beam splitter that pokes its snout into Cave 5, she sees that it's set to bathe the entire closet in high-energy particles. Anything sitting in this closet would get a blanket of high-energy radiation and that's not something that would do living tissue any good. That beam splitter looks like a piece of cobbled-together tech, too. Like it was built right here in the lab. Of course a lot of the experimental and safety equipment does end up getting jury-rigged and improvised but this thing seems … well, what would be the purpose of this? When you're doing experiments, you want a highly-focused beam. Why would anyone want to shower a human-sized lead closet in deadly protons?
Mel
Charley is wondering if this locker/particle beam set-up has anything to do with what was mentioned in the letter to Krane, about terminating timelines? is this an experiment in time-travel? Can I get a roll for Physics: Parachronics? Also what is Sophie doing?
Michael
Sophie is nervously staring at the GU.SHUB glyph.
Absolutely a Parachronics roll will work, but it will take some time to examine the device more closely that's set to spread the particle beam.
Mel
Before Charley examines the set-up further she looks to Sophie and says, "Sophie, can you keep a look out while I take a closer look at this device? We don't want to get caught by whoever placed the glyph there."
Michael
Sophie snaps out of it and says, "Yes of course. I'll just go to the door of the 'Cave,'" she says.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 8
Michael
What is the theory behind this thing? Charley wonders. Pretty tough to reverse engineer it from the primitive beam splitter here. But if Charley were to try to apply alternate universe/Many Worlds Theory to what's set up here, she wonders if the theory behind this, well, suicide gun is that the protons will energize the subject to a point where the subject shifts into a different dimension by having its component particles accelerated to the speed of light. But Charley can't honestly see how this thing would work. It's more likely to kill someone slowly and painfully.
Charley wonders if … well, some essential part of this jury-rigged contraption is missing.
Mel
Machine Empathy?
Michael
I actually factored that into the Parachronics roll! Hence your knowledge something was likely missing.
Mel
Charley is looking to see if there is something here that will give any indication who may be responsible. For instance is it operated by a computer that may need a login? She is also, looking for something to render it inactive. And turning her attention to Sophie says, "Looks like it's meant to try transport someone to a another dimension. But I think a part is missing! Do you think the two students are responsible or do you think someone else? Someone here on campus?"
Michael
Yeah, there's a computer terminal here, to help manage the particle gun operation. You can definitely try to log in and check out who's been using it. Sophie raises her eyebrow at this. "I suppose it's possible there are co-conspirators here, yes. If you check the computer," she says, noticing Charley's eyeing the terminal, "I'll look through the papers if you want to try the computer." (I can have Sophie make a quick Intelligence Analysis roll searching through the various papers on the desk in their workspace, and then Charley can use the computer and make a Computer Hacking roll at a 15 (+1 because their systems are similar to Livermore's!).
Mel
I should wait on Sophie?
Michael
Go ahead and roll, I'm rolling here with my dice.
Mel
>>>> CRITICAL FAILURE
Michael
Locked out of the system.
It wasn't enough like Livermore after all.
Sophie leafs through the books, papers, appointment books, and materials on the desks here. Sophie's able to tell that Carl and Rich have signed in and taken over this Cave 5 recently for "space science experiments" through July 6 (next Friday). They said they'll need to use the particle beam... tomorrow (Saturday) from 0000 hours to 0600. That's roughly 12 hours from now: midnight tonight-into-Saturday. There are no other names on any of the lab paperwork. They have signed out for a visitor pass for the weekend, though.
No name on the pass information here, but there'd need to be one at the security desk.
Mel
"Shoot! I've been logged out here. Let me try and break this miscreant of a machine and then let's head to the security desk!
Michael
Sophie says, "Even with SANGUSH badges we'll have to out-talk them and … I'm not too confident of my skills there. If you could somehow get back into the computer or do something with it … maybe we could try remote accessing from your lab back at Livermore. We'd have to make sure we're done here though, before we leave."
Mel
(She would determine if Sophie’s suggestion would work as well as mention calling into Livermore to update them.)
Michael
Any data storage media is probably in the room with the actual mainframes as this is just a terminal here in the lab. If you had a tape drive here you could maybe use your Data Retrieval power but you'd still need to have a working terminal.
Sophie agrees with Charley. "Let's call it in, agreed."
Mel
Is there a phone near by? Can she keep trying to get into this terminal? Or if she uses another terminal would she be able get the data she wants? But if she needs a tape drive … she would search for one, if something like that would be easily available. Sigh. Why did I decide to be a techie character in the ‘70s?
Michael
You could try again at a different terminal! Finding a tape drive might be tough and time-consuming. And yes, there's a regular phone right here in the lab. Useful for emergencies.
Mel
Okay, Charley tries a different terminal and asks Sophie to call in.
Michael
You want to give me another Computer Hacking roll at 13 this time (-2 for the failed attempt, +1 for the Lawrence Lab similarity). There's also an added complication because you'll need to backdoor into the Cave 5 terminal records, but let's see how the first roll goes.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 4
Michael
Much better. Before Carl and Rich started using this terminal (Charley can see their logins stretch back only a couple of weeks) there were a series of different researchers from a variety of different Lawrence Labs using Cave 5 for their experiments. Carl and Rich didn't log in once before two weeks ago for as long as the terminal's been installed here. There is no Third Man that Charley can see.
Mel
Okay she'll fill in Sophie then we can call Livermore.
☎ ring ring … ring ring …
Michael
A phone call is patched through to our temporary HQ here in Building 553 and it's Sophie and Charley calling from the Berkeley RadLab. "Marshall, we're in the lab that Carl and Rich have reserved for their use of the particle accelerator. There's some kind of … closet set up as a target for the particle beam — a human-sized chamber — and the two of them had reservations to use the beam tonight from midnight to six. They also have signed out for a guest pass for the weekend. We're not finding any evidence of co-conspirators among their papers and computer files."
Brant
Marshall has them on speaker as he sits cross-legged on the desk. "A … I'm sorry, a what? Particle beam? Where's Charley? What does she make of this?"
Michael
Sophie will hand the phone to Charley (no speaker at Berkeley).
Mel
Sophie hands the phone to Charley with a look of indignance and mutters "It's Marshall". Charley takes it and says, "Hi Marshall! You wanted to talk to me?"
Brant
“Yeah. So, what do you make of the scene there? Any ideas what they could have been trying to do?”
Mel
"Well, they used a glyph. GU.SUHB. So, that's not good. They've also overestimated their ability as scientists. Basically, they have tried to manipulate a proton beam and a closet into a transportation station to another dimension. But really, it's just a death closet."
"It could be that there is is a part missing. And with that it might work the way they're intending but I don't know."
Brant
Marshall closes his eyes and exhales the joint upward to the ceiling.
“So they had help from the opposition. The glyph, at least. That came from someone on the other side. Dumb students. Wide-eyed. Cultivated and given the tools to do the work. Clever clever.”
“We need you back here, Charley. Things have gone very far south in the city, at the hotel. It is a bad scene. All hands on deck. We will have to follow up on Berkeley later.”
Mel
"Oh no?! Where is Dad?!"
Brant
“Dad? Oh, Arch? He is here. Safe. Don’t worry — he’s in his element. Anyway. I want you and the Librarian back here ASAP. But before you leave Berkeley, do you think … do you think you can disable this machine they were using? This ‘proton’ beam thing?”
Mel
"Yes. No problem! Anything else?"
Brant
“No. Keep an eye on Sophie, though. You know how she can be. Get back here safely. Good girl.”
Mel
Charley feels at once delight at the praise Marshall has given her and confused by his meaning towards Sophie. But not wanting or having the time to question, it says, "OK, bye Marshall."
Brant
“Safe travels.” He hangs up.
Michael
Sophie stands at Carl and Rich's desk looking through their papers some more. "What did Marshall say?"
Mel
Charley, just finishing up sabotaging the device, looks over at Sophie and says, "He's called us back. There's big trouble at the hotel! We need to hurry. Did you find anything else?"
Michael
"No, I haven't. Trouble at the hotel?" Sophie looks concerned. "I still have a feeling like there's more that I'm missing here, but if there is a call for us to get back to Livermore because something happened at the St. Francis, we should hurry."
Mel
“What do you think you’re missing?”
Michael
"It was your mentioning the GU.SHUB. A couple of physicists stumbling upon Anunnaki glyphs? Obviously I know their being suffused in talk of "many worlds" through quantum physics might have opened their eyes to History B, but knowledge of glyphs connotes some kind of instruction. Which could be another human, granted. But we need to keep in mind that any theoretical 'third man' here may not be someone who'd sign in and out on a visitor's log. It could be a kulullû, just as an example. I suppose surrounded by all this technology combined with your dream, I have Oannes on my mind."
Mel
"Sophie … should we stay? Maybe a while longer? A demon could be here already. How about looking into the faculty?"
Michael
"It's needle in a haystack stuff, Charley. Yet another situation I wish we had Mitch. Just like Dufton." Sophie begins crying.
Mel
Charley says to Sophie, "It's going to be ok, don't cry." in the way Archie, Fi, Foe, or her Mother would, or if all of them could speak to Sophie at once. She then hugs her until she's ready to leave for Livermore.
Michael
"I'm failing you all, Charley. I'm sorry." Sophie wipes her eyes. "I've just got to hold it together for the rest of this mission." She straightens up and dabs at her face with a handkerchief. "Right. Where would we start if we were looking for Anunnaki influence here at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs? Where would I start? I would look at the history. I would look for evidence of retrocreation, or Anunnaki influence, in the annals of the labs. I can do that better from Livermore, anyway. In my library."
Mel
"What do you mean you 'got to hold it together for the rest of the mission and you're failing us?' What is wrong? Why would you say that?"
Michael
"I'm not holding myself together too well, Charley. I'm... I'm dealing with shock from our trip to Britain, still. I'm being honest with you because I respect you and I know you know very well how difficult these lives in SANDMAN are. I'm not handling the pressure well and that could mean... well, any number of different possible outcomes for me. A long recuperative break. A redeployment, a new job. Retirement." A long pause. "Forced retirement."
Mel
"But you said you wouldn't leave."
Michael
"Charley, I may not have the choice. We all have a duty to the Project."
"I'm not going to quit. But after Marshall reports me I may not have a choice."
Mel
"Reports you?"
Michael
"Reports my mental state, Charley. If he thinks I'm a liability to the team … he is a trained psychologist."
Mel
"I know he is! But, I'm not going to tell him you cried! So how would he know?? We need to get back and you said you would help me. And besides Marshall is not the boss! I can talk to Dad! We can talk to him! You won't have to go anywhere. OK?"
Michael
"I will help you, Charley. I will do my best to help you. And the team. Let's get back. I think it would be good for me to be back in the library." She manages a smile.