Settling In
Michael
Okay, so a couple of things we can do in moving things along: if Archie is indeed set on making sure that Charley has the benefit of a real normal American family home during this mission, he's going to need to talk to SANDMAN about it. Archie's options are to go to Granite Peak to the same personnel department he spoke to to request the equipment and its "specialist" in the first place, or to try to get Dr. Stanton on the horn. Or both, but the order in which you try these options is your call, Rob. Or, you know, you could just not tell anybody.
I would imagine that given Charley is here three full days before the deployment of the infrasonic weapon, that the next three days will be taken up with strategy and planning for the use of the device: i.e., my aforementioned test of the device vs. the Mansa LP as well as getting Charley (with her Cartography of 13) access to maps of the neighborhood so planning can begin on the most acoustically-advantageous place to deploy it. Sophie can definitely work on that. It might also make sense to make sure we have a backup for Charley during the mission, someone who can work with her and can operate the device in case anything happens to her. I'm going to see which of you has the best Electronic Operation (Psychotronics) default skill; i.e., who takes to operating the infrasonic device best after some playing around with it. Technically Marshall is our best backup operator for the device (IQ-5=11) but Mitch could also use it in a pinch (Electronics Operation (Surveillance)-4=9).
Archie's IQ-5 is 10 and Jocasta's IQ-5 is 9 as well, but there's a slight edge given to somebody with actual experience with electronics, I think.
I should also point out that for any of our team members with the Renshaw Method who might want to act as Charley's psychotronic operator backup, the tachistoscope is RIGHT THERE in the library, gathering dust.
And one more thing, someone on the team will need to handle the confiscation of Beth-El from the de Young. Given the damage caused by the small fire and the Halon, the museum's own conservators are probably dealing with breaking down the cube today and taking care of the other art in those galleries but it wouldn't be a bad idea for someone to research and co-opt whichever art mover company ends up getting the job of taking it away.
Bill
Roger will eagerly (for once) volunteer to have the psychotronic operations manual shoved into his brain. (Knowing what the big gun does to Black neighborhoods is something he wants to know before it’s fired.)
Michael
(I'll keep that in mind when Roger reconnects with the rest of the team.)
Rob
It looks like Roger has Electronics Operation (ok, Security, but still) — he could be our man.
So, before even thinking about it, Archie floats the idea to Charley: "Charley, I'm so glad you're going to be here with us this week and helping us with our work. Now, we could set up a cot for you to sleep in here in the office. But what I was thinking is that you might like to come visit at my house for the next few days. You could have your own bedroom, my wife Melanie is a wonderful cook, and I know our dog Kolob, and our cats, Lehi and Nephi, would love to meet you." (looks concerned suddenly) "Oh. Do you like cats? You're not allergic, are you?" (assuming she's not) "Well, what do you say? Does that sound like a plan?"
But I think actually talking to Granite Peak about taking Charley home might force Archie to think harder than he wants to about Charley's deal: where she lives, how's she's treated there, what her life is like, what her future looks like. So at first he doesn't tell anybody outside of Livermore. In theory, he's going to report this through proper channels eventually, but unless called on it, he won't actually get around to it in the next few days. If Archie does get pushback from SANDMAN, his next move would be to call Frank Staunton: "My goodness, Frank, this is a child we're talking about. If Mel and I have a spare bedroom and can fix her a few home cooked meals, surely nobody thinks the girl would be better off sleeping in a utility closet at Livermore, eating the donuts that Mitchell Hort brings in every day."
Of course, if Charley does go home to Archie's place, this raises the question of what Melanie (and Archie's teenage kids) will think, and what exactly Mel knows about Archie's work. My thinking on that is that Melanie is no dummy: she knows Archie is doing some kind of strange work, which mixes him up with odd characters and keeps him out until all hours. But they have some traditional gender roles in their marriage, and a solid relationship built on a firm foundation of Not Talking About Stuff. So Mel rarely asks questions about Archie's work. But if he brings a 6? 7? year old girl home from work, she is reasonably going to have some questions. I'm thinking about what Archie can tell her — am I right in interpreting the "Keeper's Diary" to mean that Charley's mother is no longer with us?
Michael
(I think it can be reasonably inferred with Archie's Security Clearance that children in the vaguely-understood Indigo Child program are generally orphaned.)
(That seems like "Free Access to a Narrow Range of Secrets" level to me.)
(And at the very least, even if SANDMAN expected Agent Helix to sleep in a hastily-assembled child's bedroom in a deep laser lab at Livermore, it's not like anyone from Granite Peak is here to check up on her. Unless of course she's been asked to report back. Which, you know, isn't an impossibility. It's probably also within the Narrow Range of Secrets that Indigo Children are, generally speaking, preternatural in the areas of IQ and/or special abilities.)
(As far as the Ransoms go, that's stuff I'll need to roleplay out.)
Mel
Charley says, "Cats!? You have cats!? I would like to meet your cats!!"
Rob
Yeah, part of the denial trip Archie's on through all this is not thinking too hard about Charley's abilities or odd psychology. He persists in treating her as a basically regular child, except, you know, for the whole "getting her to help us use psychotronic mindtech to foil an Annunaki-tainted funk band."
Michael
(If you guys are okay with it, as all this planning to give Charley a real home to stay in is going on, I may have Jocasta return to the office.)
Leonard
Jocasta strolls into the office, wearing big oval shades to hide the telltale circles under her eyes that come from speeding through a late night. She darts over to the coffeemaker and starts to pour a mug when she spots Charley out of the corner of her eye. "Oh, hello! Who's our guest? What's your name, honey? I'm Jocasta, but you can call me Jo." She smiles in a wide and friendly way, but she'll also shoot Archie a look that is somewhere between 'We need to talk right now' and 'What the living fuck is this?'.
Also yes this is her coffee mug and the second one is her Brandy Alexander mug, the differences are subtle yet distinct.
Michael
"Black" for "blackout."
Rob
At some point, after some more interaction with Charley, Archie will make sure she's settled doing whatever she might be doing with her equipment, then head into his office with his own work, which offers an opportunity for Jo or the Librarian or anyone else to come in and give him a hard time.
Michael
Yeah, that sounds fine to me. It also leaves Mitch out there with Charley which is good for a laugh. But Charley has the entire ARPAnet to surf (and I'm also sure we have one of those little round '70s portable TVs in the office; Charley does love TV). Charley also gets bored easily.
Shall Jocasta, Sophie, and Archie adjourn to Archie’s office?
(Sophie will come out of the library, her resolve restored, and get Charley set up with both ARPAnet access as well as a TV. I guess she doesn't need a radio with her headset. I also might have Sophie bring Charley some detailed maps of West Oakland as well, but we can talk about actual Mansa strategy in character later.)
Jeff
Mitch is still kind of bummed that Charley, who he believes to be around eleven and thus roughly within the target market, is not a fan of the Archies or the Monkees and wouldn't be impressed if Mitch told her he played the bass riff at the start of "Last Train to Clarkesville." He feels foolish for feeling bummed that he isn't impressing this tween, because as a grown-ass man he shouldn't care.
Rob
Isn't Charley only like 6 or 7? Or I am I just lamp shading the bit, that Mitch doesn't know his late Boomers from his early Xers?
Michael
(I think so, yeah. Although his aura sight would have given him an accurate physical age, I think.)
Jeff
Mitch assumes Charley must be older than she is because his brain refuses to accept the data that there's a seven-year-old SANDMAN agent
He can just barely wrap his brain around there being a twelve-year-old SANDMAN agent
Leonard
If it helps, Jo is pretty impressed that Mitch played the bass riff on "Last Train to Clarksville"
Michael
Sophie comes out of Archie's office, gives Charley a faint smile, then goes over to the Telex terminal.
(This entire scene of people having urgent conversations behind closed doors trying not to make the kid aware has heavy allegorical "1970s divorce drama" energy)
Mel
Well, Charley will go play with the computer and leave Mitch with his assumptions of her. The computer will light up with her touch. And code will flash on and off rhythmically, as she gently nods.
Michael
Sophie rips off a good lengthy chunk of printer paper out of the URIEL Telex machine and folds it over, slipping it into a large file folder. She watches Charley for a moment and says, "Charley, will you be all right out here while the four of us finish our meeting about the mission in Archie's office? After we finish up we can start getting you squared away for your stay with us." It sounds like Sophie has decided to handle Charley's presence by just treating her like just another agent.
Mel
"Yes, I’m fine."
Michael
(Poor Charley.)
So from Charley's POV, that blonde lady Jocasta has left the URIEL office (not sure if she said goodbye to Charley or not, guessing probably no) leaving the Librarian and Mitch and Archie in Archie's office. Not sure if Mitch is done in there as well, but if he is Charley is all by her lonesome in the common area, maybe rapidly losing interest (Short Attention Span) in what's on ARPAnet today.
Mel
Once she has introduced herself to the computer. She starts to notice some commotion in Archie’s office.