You Are Needed
April 18, 1974 | Thursday
Brant
Marshall asks Merrick to drop him off on his — Merrick’s — way to the airport (Merrick being en route to LA to “talk” “to” Jolly about the SLA — what he or the Company were trying to accomplish, both mundane and ontological). When he gets in the car, he gives Merrick the cypher phrase that they should both have eyes open for a tail. Marshall doesn’t think he’s being followed but the news about Mitch’s run-in with the soulless man has made him warier. If he or Merrick sense they’re being followed, Marshall will instruct Merrick to divert and “lead” the tail somewhere discreet.
Otherwise they drive to Roger’s and Marshall has Merrick drop him off about a block away. From there Marshall would head to Roger’s and try to buzz in.
Michael
I've made an Observation-16 roll for Marshall. He keeps a wary eye on the rear view mirror and the streets as Merrick drives south to the vicinity of Roger's apartment. He doesn't notice any obvious tails or unusual happenings on the quick 15-minute drive south from Kearny to the Mission District on US-101, the Bayshore Freeway. Merrick gives a cipher phrase back that he sees no tails at the wheel either. "I called the weather; they're saying winds on the flight down to LA should be quiet. Should be a smooth flight." Merrick doesn't say much more and takes the Army Street exit to drop Marshall off a block or so from Roger's crib.
Brant
buzzzzzz
Bill
Roger pops the door open. He looks passable. He's been to a barber, put together a passable 'fro, and he's back in his leather jacket. "Hey man. Boss. You got something for me?"
Brant
"Ah, Roger. Glad to see you're doing better. May I come in?"
Bill
Roger motions Marshall in. The place has been cleaned up, to military standards— except the wall phone, which still has burn patterns around it, and a large charcoal circular figure around that. Roger hovers right next to Marshall, almost buzzing.
He seems like he’s giving his guest the chance to speak, but then jumps into the brief silence: “What’s been happening? I feel so out of it.”
Brant
Marshall looks around, hands behind his back. “A lot. A lot is happening. It’s fortunate you’ve turned up again … serendipitous, even.” He examines the burn marks on the wall, and the circular chalk outline. “The short version is that you’re needed.” He pulls a manila envelope from inside his jacket; he hands it to Roger. It’s covered in the usual SANDMAN stamps denoting its classified status. “All the details are in there, short version is that you’ll need to meet Jocasta at the location ID’d in there, tomorrow, 11 PM. You’ll be operating under deep cover to assist her in smuggling Hearst and the members of this SLA organization to LA.” He pauses while Roger opens the envelope. “Keep an eye on Jocasta, as well. She seemed a little … well, you know how she can get.”
He gestures at the burn marks on the wall. “So what is this all about? Is it related to those ‘I Phones’ we found here?”
(I don’t know how caught up Bill is OOC on all the mission nine events so Mike I may call upon you to give him a bullet list update on things and we can say it’s a briefing memo Marshall had prepared for Roger to review)
Michael
So the chronology of the last four days basically works like this:
Monday:
SLA robs bank, Patty Hearst shoots and kills two people (unlike our timeline), SLA escapes
At presumably the same exact moment, there is a fire at the Bohemian Club in the room poet George Sterling died in, Ambrose Bierce appears on the slopes of Mount Shasta, and Andrew Krane in LA sees that Robert Redford and Nicolas Roeg are doing a Jack London adaptation
Mitch and his student Hilton sense something amiss on the mountain and bring Bierce back to the St. Germain School, Mitch then 'copters down to SF to help with the investigation
Jo flies up to SF, meets with Viv, and they discuss Leftist insurgency in the Bay Area. Jo then reaches out to Patricia psychically and succeeds in making a connection so Jo can try to offer aid to the SLA. Jo heads out onto the streets of the Haight (identified as a place of interest by Mitch's Serendipity) in deep cover
Marshall investigates the Bohemian Club using glyphs and NLP, senses that some of the more sensitively-placed employees have resistance to these methods
Tuesday:
Jo has her first meeting with the SLA and convinces them, with Patty's help that she and Patty are old friends, Jo offers to help them get out of SF and to LA
Mitch goes a-walking in San Francisco, meets a man with no aura/soul who warns URIEL/SANDMAN away from the Bohemian Club
Archie flies up to Shasta to debrief Ambrose Bierce (with the help of the Dragon Lady), some weird subduction-like events happen while Archie pushes him. Ambrose was a captive of the Red Kings in one of their "cities" for many years, never aging. Also Dan Miller of the Agrigenics mission shows up at Shasta at the same time; he appears to now be Illuminated. As of Thursday, Dan is still at the school.
Current working theory: the Bohemians (artists) headed by Sterling did create a different world, but after 20 years it reverted back to History A (History B was likely involved, but we don't know how), which caused the San Francisco Earthquake. The Bohemians (businessmen) ended up in "charge" of the new world that resulted.
Marshall, Mitch and Viv visit Piedmont near Oakland and find the daughter of Bohemian painter Xavier Martinez, a Mexican/Native who used Mesoamerican motifs in his painting and who was close with Sterling, London, Bierce et al. Viv says we could use Roger to investigate this avenue
Jo, after meeting the SLA, pokes around Roger's place and has her explosive phone conversation with "Roger"
Wednesday:
Merrick reports to Archie and Marshall asking how we can discredit or otherwise co-opt the SLA; they encourage Merrick to "think differently" and send him to LA to chat with Jolly West, who may have been responsible for Cinque being used as a catspaw of the intelligence community to discredit Black/Leftist insurgency
Jo actually gets blindfolded and brought the SLA's safehouse; Jo sees Decadent illusions projected by Patty's psyche and gets given the trust exercise of breaking into her apartment and finding an issue of Cosmo from 1907 with a George Sterling poem in it
Marshall and Mitch team up, find the ditty bag full of iPhones in Roger's closet, head out to Livermore, find Roger
Thursday:
Jo gets the Cosmo, reads the poem and research material Patty had put together, heads back out onto the streets, has an acid flashback while waiting for the SLA dead drop message, which is intercepted by a businessman. She reaches out again to Patty using Telesend and arranges the escape from LA on Friday night near midnight
Archie works theoretical esmology on the history reversion (with Jane, disguising it as an exercise on Nixon's resignation), confirms the Enemy was involved and that our theory about the Bohemian Club "inherting the Earth" is correct. He also has a letter from E Clampus Vitus on his desk waiting for him
The braintrust at Kearny Street are currently looking at Sterling's poem as a remnant or reminder of the Bohemian paradise timeline
Bill
Roger winces at the word “phone”. But it doesn’t tamp down the clear expression of excitement on his face. “Something to do, a gig— solid.” He almost opens the envelope like it’s Christmas morning, but then pulls himself back to the question. “I’m piecing it together. Like a jigsaw in my head. This new loa— let’s call him the Phreak— he’s all about phones. He is Lord over them: they are his demesne. But you said… ‘I phone.’ That gives me a strong feeling— déjà vu. That’s usually a sign of one of their memories. It’s definitely something I have heard before, like in a dream.”
“I don’t have it yet. I need time. But I tell you, hearing it, I feel a sense of wrongness, danger.”
Brant
(Seems like a good place to do a flashback)
Michael
It has been brought to Control's attention that the members of Operation URIEL, during the calendar year 1972 (see files EDELSTEIN, HORT, MARTIN, RANSOM, REDGRAVE), were subjected to the effects of a major pragmaclast used by a member of the Continuity Working Group, Anthony Reinhardt, to remove team members' memories of Reinhardt's active presence as an adjunct member of URIEL for that calendar year. The use of this pragmaclast on Project personnel was and remains explicitly prohibited and this specific action, upon Control's review of post-ALLOCHTHON technical interview of CWG Steering Committee members, was taken without the Steering Committee's knowledge or approval. The long-term effects of exposure to this pragmaclast and removal of these memories are not known, but the Project retains the power to restore these memories safely using psychotronic techniques and provide both preparatory and post-restoration care to allow for re-integration of these memories into agents' conscious minds. This process would be undertaken at Granite Peak under controlled conditions. If any of the above members of URIEL wish to proceed with this memory restoration, Control would ask that they agree to a detailed technical interview regarding the events of ALLOCHTHON and other field missions as reported to Granite Peak over calendar year 1973. This offer is open indefinitely and can be accepted at any time.
— ALLOCHTHON After-Action Report, SANDMAN Control
In the aftermath of the Continuity Working Group's dissolution during Operation ALLOCHTHON, Marshall and Roger decided to report to Granite Peak together. Marshall accepted Control's offer of restoring his memories of 1972, seeing where Reinhardt had spent time and effort; Roger reported to continue his training of the cheval prospects but actually was planning to check out CWG and other SANDMAN files on SANDMAN's history of interaction with the dead (and spirits). Marshall is there as support for Roger; his newly-bestowed Rank in SANDMAN would give Roger cover if he got into any problems; likewise, Roger being at-large in Granite Peak while Marshall undergoes "synaptic re-consolidation" in the SANDMAN memory labs gives Marshall some reciprocal protection as well.
The Synaptic Consolidation Lab is one of many memory-alteration and brain hacking facilities deep in the Peak. The SCL is for those experiencing memory loss or ontological uncertainty from Red King activity where any even-infinitesimal grain of memory remains that can be rebuilt-upon. As Marshall knows about the Urim and Thummim, and about what was done to him by Reinhardt, he qualifies for the SCL procedures.
All these labs used to be ruled over by the diktat of one Edward Mansfield Gunn. However, upon arrival at the Peak, it's made evident to Marshall that Gunn's complicity with the CWG has left him outside looking in; official scuttlebutt is that he's been "retired" from the Project by Control. There's no official new chief of the Project's memory labs yet, but Marshall is greeted after his medical examination by the interim head of the memory labs, Dr. Donald O. Hebb, Canadian neuropsychologist, emeritus professor at McGill, MK ULTRA researcher, and until recently a retired Sandman who wrote several books for the world outside the Project on developmental neurology, abnormal behavior, childhood education, and language acquisition. Marshall wonders if Hebb had anything to do with the decommissioning of INDIGO and was ordered to stick around and head up Gunn's old labs until a successor was found.
"So, Doctor," Hebb says to Marshall after he's had his EEGs and physical examination, "your exposure to a major memory-altering pragmaclast against Project safety protocols provides us with a unique opportunity to rebuild your memories around these experiences. Your experience could even help us deal with victims of the Kings' memory alteration in future!" Hebb seems enthusiastic to help Marshall, if a bit dotty.
Brant
Marshall is polite but noncommittal with Hebb; he’s ready to get this done and a bit trepidatious.
Michael
"Right then! Well, let's pop you into the chair and get the procedure started."
Hebb and his medical assistants lead Marshall into a white room with a number of advanced computer banks whose connections lead to a headset paired with a large pair of goggles positioned at the head of a padded reclined chair. Looks like another EEG setup to Marshall from here; there'll be no surgery or invasive procedures involved.
"To give you a sense of the procedure; we will use verbal prompts about the pragmaclast and its user to elicit the traces of memory engrams in the brain. Visual stimulation in the goggles will provide sensory triggers to aid the process. Once one memory is unlocked, no matter how faint, the remnants of the eliminated engrams can begin to spontaneously reform. Since the pragmaclast user ordered this memory loss in a single instance of memory alteration, the process should begin to "domino" once begun. The intense portion of the restoration should take the majority of this afternoon; we may need additional sessions to help round out and complete the memory retrieval, but by this evening you should begin to spontaneously assemble your lost memories on your own without prompting. I would expect your hippocampus to continue to uncover smaller details and episodic remnants about the pragmaclast's user for weeks to months afterward."
The nurses help Marshall into the chair, adjust the headset and goggles, and Hebb scoots a rolling chair closer to Marshall so he can begin the verbal prompts.
"Right. Are you seated comfortably? Then I'll begin."
"Tell me, Dr. Redgrave, of your knowledge, either from training or in the field, of the GESHTUG.ULU glyph." And as multi-colored lights flash in Marshall's eyes from the goggles, he can give me a Hidden Lore (History B) roll at 15.
Brant
>> SUCCESS by 7
Michael
So Marshall knows that GESHTUG.ULU, "Forget this," is one of the basic Anunnaki glyphs, which when wielded by humans can cause short-term memory loss and when used by Irruptors can steal weeks, months, and even years of memory. It was this glyph that was allegedly incised upon the Urim and Thummim, the glyph that haunted Sophie's subconscious as she descended into addiction before her time at THROWAWAY. (Marshall can tell Hebb as little or as much as he wants here, but when the image of the glyph starts to float in that uncertain way that glyphs shimmer in the human consciousness, Marshall can start to reverse-engineer and experience the moments that led up to Reinhardt's finally using the holy breastplate of the Kohanim on his companions in URIEL.)
Sophie had just gone out for a smoke and a coffee, leaving Tony in the office with Marshall, Archie, Mitch and Roger that afternoon in December 1972. They'd been discussing the latest op Anthony and his Natural Guard had been on in Southwest Africa—Tony was hardly if ever in the States that last quarter of '72—Tony exasperatedly explaining to Marshall (and some extent Archie) why the Natural Guard program was so important.
"What do you think is going to happen when the shit hits the fan, fellas? We're gonna get left behind when our kids and grandkids take over the Project. We'll be relics. Do you ever think about continuity? Making sure that technological progress and cultural convergence don't outpace our ability to resist the Kings? What if we made a new breed of man and woman, a breed able to live on any side of the ontological divide—live and thrive, even! you know what I'm talking about, Mitchell!—so that even if we lose, we can fight back."
Every time Tony goes off on one of these fact-finding missions, '72 Marshall thinks to himself, it's some new pie-in-the-sky crackpot scheme to make sure humanity survives a possible Second Ontoclysm. This kind of shit is bad for morale. 1974 Marshall watches this scene as if outside his own body, but able to hear his own thoughts and experience his own sense memories of the event. In the blurry periphery of his vision, '74 Marshall can see something sitting on the table, about the size of a bottle of booze, in front of where Tony is fulminating. It's made of stone, and '74 Marshall cannot for the life of him focus his attention on what it is. It's a lacuna, a blank spot, and it's irritating the shit out of '74 Marshall.
"I'm asking... telling you all about this because you're all Important. The Librarian's not going to ever enter the equation. This is the time to decide. You know some at the Peak and at Duncorne theorize there have been countless ontoclysms, more than we can ever fully know..." At this, he pats the blurry object on its "head," as if it's an attentive pet. "We don't need to be at the beck and call of anyone else's history. We can live, unfettered by revolution or reversion. We just have to make ourselves better first. Are you ready for that, gentlemen? Are you ready to evolve, and become the first exemplars of homo superior?"
'72 Marshall at this point began to think that Tony was dealing with some severe memetic infection from this Namibia mission; a quick surreptitious look over at Archie confirmed this diagnosis. As Archie stuttered his way through some lame-sounding (to '72 Marshall's ears, anyway) verbal delaying tactic, Marshall prepared an ariktu to stun Reinhardt so he could probe him further.
Reinhardt sighs. "I should have known." He reaches down under the conference table and lifts up the breastplate. Back at Granite Peak in January 1974, Dr. Hebb turns down the assault of bright colored lights; in Marshall's mind, they are now associated with the light coming off the gems of the Urim and Thummim. "Doctor? Are you there? Did you achieve a core memory of the pragmaclast?"
Marshall can sense his vitals are elevated; his heart is pumping hard and there's a pain behind his eyes.
Brant
To Hebb, sounding half-drunk: “Yes … we knew … we knew the … whole time …”
Michael
Hebb says, "Let's get him a mood stabilizer," to the nurse-orderly. "Doctor, would you like to recover from the session in the recuperation room? Perhaps something to drink?" Marshall, as he is helped from the chair, looks down at his watch and sees about 90 minutes have passed. There are all sorts of memories of Reinhardt starting to filter into Marshall's consciousness now, from the merely quotidian to the now-portentous, all built off the core memory of that frustrating, disheartening afternoon in December 1972 when Reinhardt tricked them all, leaving the five of them toyed with, ready to be OZYMANDIAS's dupes for the next nine to ten months.
(In meta terms, Marshall has had over the past couple of months since the procedure, lots of Reinhardt-related data coming back to him that he's been able to feed to Jo for her various OZYMANDIAS missions past and future. We'll be using these as various OZY-cleanup plot hooks for the next mission or two into the next couple of years of the campaign, I wager.)
Brant
Marshall will take the medication and the water and allow himself to be walked to the recuperation room. He is deep in thought.
Michael
As Marshall thinks back to his own experience at Granite Peak, and the memories of Reinhardt that have been flickering into his awareness over the past couple of months and the feelings of literal deja vu that they have unleashed, he realizes that his memories of Reinhardt from 1972 are a little like Roger's consciousness going away while he is being ridden. An altered state, done crudely and numinously by a higher power, meant to conceal the most vital information until the crucial point it is needed. This is Mitch Serendipity stuff, Marshall hears in his head, madly, in Reinhardt's voice for some reason. As Marshall looks up at Roger, who is also temporarily lost in a reverie, he sees in Roger's eyes the same struggle to remember what happened, what important change or metamorphosis first happened to him in the underground cells of Granite Peak.
Brant
"Hm. Yes. Funny thing, memory. Well — do you want to drive me back to the office? I know Arch and Mitch are anxious to see you. You know that everyone was ... concerned for you." Marshall says this while examining the charcoal symbol on the wall, quietly.
(By the way, the symbol around the burnt out phone, is it of anything? Does Marshall recognize it? Or was this explained somewhere and I missed it?)
Bill
(Even a brief experience with the occult would lend a guess that it’s a circle of protection or containment.)
Roger comes to and feels out he isn’t the only one freaked. “Yeah… I think you get my point about having work. Contact. Even with danger— it can be better than this… thinking too much.”
“Project WISHING WELL. I remember that much. Now, let’s go get me in a gun fight or something safer than hanging around here.”
Brant
(And I guess we drive to the office ‘cuz I got nothing else!)
Michael
(I'm going to let the memetics meeting go for a little while longer but then we can bring everyone back together minus Jo and talk about next steps.)