Charley Invents Caller ID
Mel
After being ushered away by Librarian, Charley is left alone in a room. Charley is often left alone in a room. And it's an opportunity for the fear to grow. It does, as the shadows relegated to the corners of this URIEL office, start to reshape. Shifting into the more familiar walls of her room at the Peak. Charley clenches her small hands into fists as she tries to push back the thoughts of going back. But it's hard not to follow the idea. To go back there would mean … "Well, no more sundaes for one thing!" A voice answers. It's Foe; he usually shows up to speak through her hand, offering up some gruff council.
"I've been telling ya, kid, you have to make yourself useful! You don't want to go back there, shit, neither do I!!"
"Now Foe, please watch your language." Fi has joined them by way of Charley's other hand. It's not often she has the company of both of them at the same time.
"Now Charley, please try not to worry. I have no doubts you will stay. I believe Mr. Ransom has every intention of becoming your benefactor. There was that trouble in his office the other day. But with the help I granted you, I am certain the address you gave will put to rest any qualms with you being a part of this family."
Charley starts to relax with the words from her imaginary friends, beginning to ease her fears. They are her oldest friends, the people at Granite Peak are always changing, but the two Giant Killers are a constant in the inconstant world. "Right, but like I was saying before Fi interrupted. You have to make yourself useful! Indispensable even! So, go back out there, put your headgear on, and get to work!"
Charley smiles to herself, and her hands relax, as her companions retreat back into the world of her mind. Then Charley does indeed, put on her "headgear" and gets to work on making URIEL a safer place.
Back out in the conference room, all the adults are players in a pantomime play. A show the little girl watches only during the occasional breaks she takes from her monumental task. But as she finishes and the play winds down, she feels a reassuring pat on her shoulder. She looks up at the kind face of Mr. Ransom. It seems he's pleased with her work. And then one by one, Librarian, Marshall, and Mr. Ransom move to nearby rooms, and she is once again, left alone.
Michael
Since the phone hubbub died down, she's been busy. Fingers flying over the keys of one of the computer terminals in the library, every now and again sketching out what look like flowcharts on scrap paper that Sophie provided. She's got a problem she wants to solve on the computer; all the while at the same time, she's also occasionally adding ideas to a list on paper headed "Security Improvements to URIEL Office." (Those damn Gen-X kids and their short attention spans.) Mel, give me a Computer Programming roll when you get a chance.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 4
Michael
Awesome. I need to roll the Prototype roll now, one second.
Okay, the prototype program is working. Now we just need two final rolls. One is an Electronics Repair (Computers) roll: as Charley finishes putting together her program, her fingers finished their flying over the keys (her techno-empathy enabling her to input the data of her program into the Livermore computers faster than normal), she takes out a toolkit and begins … disconnecting the library phone from its receiver, splicing in a line splitter, and feeding the phone connection to a converter box that leads into one of the ARPANet computer terminals. (Funnily enough, the only thing Charley may need help with is simply lifting one of the giant CRT monochrome monitors and moving it from the research desk to Sophie's desk.) Sophie, while this is going on, is completely sanguine; Sophie hasn't been pestering Charley as to what exactly it is that she's doing. Apparently whatever it is is happening with her approval.
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS by 10
Michael
Wow, okay. Final roll: given that the majority of this Invention was Computer Programming-related and Charley has I/O Tap and Machine Empathy, I'm going to give Charley a break on the necessary time to do so. Usually it would take 1d6-2 days, but I'm going to change that to 1d6-4. If you get 0 or less on this roll, it's done this afternoon. If it's 1 or 2, it means there's more debugging to do over the next 1-2 days.
(The Invention will still be functional this afternoon if you need another day or two, just a little buggy.)
Mel
>>>> 1d6-4 … 4
Alrighty, Charley is purely focused on getting it done! (With the -4 I got zero)
Michael
Oh nice!
All right, all... Operation URIEL's switchboard of cover identity phone numbers, as well as its main office lines, now have Caller ID.
Basically we've needed to sacrifice one of our ARPANet terminals for this, as its screen will now display the phone number of whomever is calling into one of URIEL's numbers (as well as which of our numbers it's calling). In addition, it will display the listing for the incoming call (after a short operator-assisted delay; unfortunately not even Charley's tech wizardry can digitize hundreds of thousands of phone listings...) Instead of some kind of digital lookup, an automated call will go out to the Bell switchboard to request a number lookup, so the listing for an incoming call (including name and address if they're listed) will appear on screen in 30 seconds to a minute after the number is ID'd.
(In case you were wondering what the first Caller ID prototype looked like: this one was built at Boeing)
Mel
Just outside Archie's office, Charley sits staring through the TV. Sometimes she feels like everything shown on the small box has played a million times over. That's when her radio headset is charged with changing the story. Lassie is on, probably the Homecoming episode. It's boys and a dog on a bus, at a farm. But it's the song that takes over, “Remember (Walking in the Sand),” by The Shangi-Las. This song feels more like an incantation. Charley lets the song take over and she slowly dances her way towards Archie's door. Singing "Oh no, Oh no, Oh no no no no. Remember, hmm hmm hmm hmm. Remember, hmm hm hmm hm hmm, Remember, hmm hmm hmm, Remember, hmmhmmm hmmmm!" After the song, she removes the headphones and looks at the door for a moment then enters.
Rob
I'm assuming this is some time after Archie and Marshall's conversation, but before everyone else gets back, so Archie is alone in his office. Archie looks up from his work (he's marking up newspapers and magazines) and greets Charley with genuine warmth — at least one person in the office doesn't think he's a torturer.
"Hello, Charley! It's good to see you. Come on in, take a load off." He gestures to a chair or the couch. "Is there anything you want, anything you need?"
Mel
Charley smiles at his greeting. The song is still playing in her head. So she makes her way to his desk, with a dancy sway that goes along with the tune. She studies his face for a moment then sits down on the couch. "I had a nightmare last night."
Rob
"I'm sorry to hear that. It's always a little hard to get used to sleeping in a different bed, I think. Would you like to talk about it?"
Mel
She looks away and starts playing with the edge of her shirt. "The room I slept in. It was your son's room?"
"The boy in the picture it was your son?"
Rob
Archie takes a sharp breath, then composes himself. "Yes. Well, not exactly. That picture is of my son, Charlie — that was his name: Charlie, like you. That room's not really his. He, well, he passed away before we moved to San Francisco. But we put some of his favorite things in there, just like his old room. And we think of it as 'Charlie's room.' I hope it didn't make you uncomfortable, sleeping there."
Mel
Archie's response doesn't seem to surprise her. "No." she replies, about being uncomfortable. Then she looks up again at Archie and asks, "Will I have to go back? I don't want to go back."
Rob
"Do you mean, back to Granite Peak?"
Mel
"Yes, please can't I stay here with you? PLEASE!" She looks like she is on the verge of tears.
Rob
"Oh my goodness. Oh, Charley." He reaches out, puts his hand on her arm or shoulder. "That is a very big question."
"Can I ask you a little bit about what your life is like there, at Granite Peak? Do you have friends there, maybe other children like you? Do you have teachers, or, I guess, folks there who take care of you?"
Michael
(Mel, just texted you some basic details on the Indigo program at Granite Peak, feel free to use or ask further questions.)
Mel
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" She is crying.
(sorry Rob)
Rob
(it's ok!)
Michael
(For the record, we're not quite in Guilt Complex/Fright Check territory for Archie yet … but you know. We're close.)
Rob
"But … but you must have somebody there who cares about you." Probably not the kindest thing to say to a child, but Archie is rattled.
(and yeah, feel free to trigger those disadvantages whenever, Mike)
Michael
(It's gonna be at a point where the events of the day are just collectively too much to take. We're not there quite yet by my reckoning. Archie's made of pretty strong stuff, but … I'm just gonna wait a bit.)
(But it'll be Guilt Complex first. Fright Check if anything legitimately sanity-threatening is revealed, either now or later.)
(Mostly I'm just trying to figure out if Archie will on some level consider himself responsible for … all this.)
Mel, give me your Self-Control roll (12 or less to resist Stress Atavism)
Rob
(yeah. I think for Archie there are two pieces: how he feels about the Indigo Children program generally and then what to do about Charley. When Mitch (& Jo) confronted him about Charley yesterday (?) he resolved his cognitive dissonance by just basically deciding "we're not monsters, therefore they must treat the children well" — but if that's not true, he's got a problem)
(as for Charley, well that's the scene we're doing now)
Michael
(I'm gonna let it ride just a little while longer. We'll see if Charley starts channeling a past life or not.)
Mel
>>>> SUCCESS
I got an 11.
Michael
Charley's good, but she's just barely keeping it together.
Mel
His question brings her back from really unloading a lot of pent up emotion. "I guess so." (What is Archie's body language?)
(Hmm do I need a roll for that?)
Michael
(We could do a roll but it depends on whether Archie is trying to hide his emotions or not.)
Rob
He's quite distressed, but trying to be supportive and sympathetic. He's also pretty close to cracking and saying yes, of course she can stay.
Michael
I think even with her Low Empathy, Charlie can see Archie is … anguished but also wants to help.
Mel
Okay, then since it doesn't seem like he is going clinical on her. She can't help but grab hold of him and plead with her whole being not to be sent away. She isn't crying any longer just silently trying to get him to promise her.
Michael
Okay, that was it. Self-Control roll at a 15 for Archie.
(you pass on a 15 or less)
Rob
>>>> SUCCESS
(rolled a 7)
Michael
(okay, no Chronic Depression)
(man, if only life were that easy)
Rob
(Nevertheless, Archie is shaken and does feel responsible.) Archie gets down on a knee so his face is at her level. The resemblance to someone making a proposal is unfortunate but there you go. He says, "Charley. Think carefully before you answer, because this is important. Are you saying that you would like to stay here in San Francisco, to stay with Melanie and I, and to help us with our work here at the office?
Mel
Charley, hugs him and softly says, "Yes Dad."
Brant
(Thank GOD Marshall is on the phone with Shelley Winters right now or he would FLIP THE FUCK OUT.)
Michael
(I just looked at like 12 different gifs found when I searched for "what" and none of them even came close)
Mel
(this is HEAVY)
Michael
(Cuckoos in the nest, man.)
Rob
(kinda feel like I should re-make that self control roll) Archie's all choked up, he stammers a bit and tries to pull it together. "I can't make you a promise just yet, Charley. I'd need to talk to Melanie about it. And there will be forms to fill out and phone calls to make to the folks at Granite Peak." (but he's already switched from the conditional "I'd need" to straight up future tense "there will") "But I … would like very much for you to stay with us."
Michael
(remake it at a 12, Rob; I think no matter what this means the next 24 hours for Archie are gonna be weird af)
Rob
>>>> SUCCESS
(got a 10 — a lot closer)
Michael
Yeah. Right now in Archie's mind the "anything bad happening to someone you're responsible for" trigger might be considered to be Melanie and the kids.
But anyway.
Man.
Mel
Charley, seems relived and tired. She will lay back on the couch, close her eyes and drift off until she falls asleep.
Michael
(Aw, poor kid. Inventing Caller ID and escaping a high-tech orphanage located in a chemical weapons testing site takes a lot out of a girl.)
Mel
(Both her and me! Lordy!)
Michael
(Yes, that was intense.)
Rob
Archie sits there for a long while watching her sleep, then gets up and closes the office door. He's quiet, so as not to wake Charley, but anyone walking close by his door in the next little while might hear the sound of Archie talking to puppets.
Mel
(Oh no! Oh no! Oh no no no!)
Michael
(Rob … do you want to roleplay that at some point? Either now or before tomorrow night? I'm always up for portraying one of the Ransom Gang.)
Rob
We can just leave it mysterious. I love Ransom Gang scenes but I don't actually know who Archie's talking to. I just figure that's what he'd do when all these emotions are stirred up.
Michael
I'll leave it for a later possible flashback!