Full Text for Solitaire

What follows is the full text for the scenario "Solitaire".

William saw teeth. Still giddy from the effects of the teletrans, surrounded by darkness, William fumbles for a light and snaps it on, flooding the small cavern with light. Tracing the beam across the wall, William lets out a tense sigh as calcified stalactites and stalagmites reflect in the underground darkness. "Let's make this quick," William says. "I really don't like the feel of this place."

The sound is minute in the cavern, a tiny click as William steps on something buried under the sand. It probably doesn't mean anything, William rationalizes, staring down at the dusty floor. It probably is something entirely innocent, a piece of foil, a broken piece of plastic. "Nobody move, okay?" William whispers, still concentrating, knowing that the slightest motion might set off a mine, a trap. "Nobody move, okay?" No answers. "Okay?" Looking around, William no longer fears moving. The trap has already been sprung. The contact party has vanished...

The dirt is moist and cold as William sifts through it, but after a brief search the effort is rewarded with a gleaming mirrored shard.

Heaving its overlarge skull off the floor, William studies the fission marks, the empty eyesockets, the emphasized brain case. "Maybe you can still tell me something," William says, trying the scanner on the skull. After a few minutes, the S.S.C.L.U. prints its analysis: Organic matter. William probability that object is bone of non-Terran origin. With a wry smirk, William heaves the skull aside. "Useless."

Carved into the floor of the cavern are a series of deep grooves, their traces nearly eroded by a trickling stream of cave water. Strangely, they seem to lead underneath a stone wall. After a brief search, William discovers a small trip switch which slides inward with a pop.

Queasily, William boots the body of the dead creature over, instantly regretting the action. An oily substance covers the face of the creature, bits of feathers already beginning to form fungus along the cranium of the skull. "You've only been dead a week, I'd guess," William says, talking just to hear something, anything. "Smells like a month."

Settling against the wall, William throws the strange switch and waits, wishing quietly that someone had had the foresight to pack something to eat. As if apologizing for its slowness, a message flickers across the screen of the scanner. "Obscure dialect--- still processing." Cheese. How long is it since I've had real cheese, William wonders, staring at the ceiling. Real hot dogs? "The light will show the way," the scanner translates finally, using its audio channel. "End of translation" William can discern a faint humming in the distance now.

As the grenade falls into the darkness, William counts the seconds, calculating depth. Falling. Falling. Thump. "A good drop," William thinks aloud, eying the chasm. "Perhaps 20 meters. I think I can make...Sounds like something climbing. Like something coming up the chasm side!"

Pitching back, William falls hard on the narrow ledge, stares wide eyed into the yawning darkness below. "Got to pull myself together," William says. "Nearly walked off into never never land."

A brownish-yellow ooze issuing from its wounds, the creature's flesh seems to be collapsing with incredible speed. Holding nostrils shut, William steps back from the creature. "Does everything in here stink?"

"Greetings," a feminine voice says as William crosses the threshold. "In your absence, I have taken the liberty of executing security measure 379-A..." William looks for the source of the voice then realizes that the voice is electronic. "...An alien presence was detected in the upper chambers. I teleported them into a holding chamber where I have temporarily suspended their life signs. I have also activated the planetary defense shields to prevent further teletrans activity. I will maintain these security measures until you give me the countermanding orders.

Using a handy rag to wipe the frost from its sides, William peers at the sickly yellow fluid inside the jar, its mass dotted with floating white globs. It is designated with an alphabetic symbol that the scanner interprets as "d."

Designated "e", the blue material in the jar shifts from side to side hesitantly. "High viscosity," William says. "Like oil."

After scanning the contents of the bottle, William unstoppers the container. "Looks like jar j is full of water, but it smells like alcohol."

Laying on its side, the jar leaks a foul smelling liquid, its label barely visible as "n". It appears as if someone has attempted to defrost the sample.

Holding the jar up to a light, William is still unable to make out the contents of the jar labeled "m".

By all appearances, the contents of z have been removed, leaving only a sticky amber colored residue on the sides.

Shot through with shimmering silver bands of color, the fluid in the jar seems to dance with light as William examines the contents. Turning it over, the side of the container is labeled "a".

Filled with a brownish yellow liquid, the mixture seems to have some sort of sediment in the bottom that moves slowly. "This one is labeled "d"."

Holding the bottle closer, William sniffs its stopper. The smell is acrid, but very familiar. Very familiar indeed. "It smells like the thing in the chasm!" William concludes, remembering the thing that had slithered up the walls.

An ice blue gel is lumped in cubes inside the glass beaker marked "h", jiggling as William lightly shakes it.

"No one ever bothered to put anything in this," William says, looking at the label. "Nothing in it at all".

Taking a special interest in the jar, William hoists it from its rest and watches the drifting contents. Pale flickers of electricity bolt from one nodule to another, giving the "q" jar a faint glow.

"Like looking through depression style glass," William says, peering through the layered liquid. "This one is labeled "z"."

"Probably someone's private laboratory," William speculates, examining the controls. "No labels or guides. No instructions of any kind. So what does this control?" Drumming nervous fingers on the panel, William stares hard at the small platforms across the room.

Elevated a few centimeters from the floor, the platforms bear a great resemblance to teletrans pads, but appear less intricate. Etched into the sides of the pads are a number of interlaced symbols, looking much like exploded infinity icons. "Double helixes?" William says, brushing the symbols off. "DNA strands? Hmm..."

The control sliders move with ease, William watching carefully for any indicator lights, or strange phenomenon. For a moment a glimmer seems to flicker into existence over the pad, then fades away.

Pushing a slider to its top extreme, William's efforts are rewarded with a low pitched hum rising in the room. Slowly a swarm of golden lights begin to swim in the air over the platform, giving something shape. "Something forming on the platform," William says. Its outlines still awash with materialization, it's arms reach upward at the ceiling. Two. Three. Four. William remembers pictures of ancient Hindu gods, thinks of Shiva...

Its bat-like ears twitching, the creature turns towards the sound, reaches out its claws, slowly sweeps the air with its four arms. Feebly, it makes a bleating sound which the scanner is unable to translate. "A child," William surmises.

Pushing a slider to its top extreme, William's efforts are rewarded with a low pitched hum rising in the room. Slowly a swarm of golden lights begin to swim in the air over the platform, giving something shape. "Something forming on the platform," William says. A viscous sack of translucent flesh begins to materialize, its interior organs shimmering as the genetic extrapolator finishes its work. Rolling off the platform with a sickening slosh, it begins to creep across the floor, leaving behind it a glistening slime trail.

"I don't think we're going to be able to talk," William concludes, looking at the creature. "You're not responding to anything the scanner will generate and I've run out of ideas." The creature waves a pair of antennae and tries to suck on William's shoes.

Pushing a slider to its top extreme, William's efforts are rewarded with a low pitched hum rising in the room. Slowly a swarm of golden lights begin to swim in the air over the platform, giving something shape. "Something forming on the platform," William says. A bluish gas begins to intermix with the sparkling flashes of light as traces of flickering electricity dart out of the cloud. "Some sort of gaseous life form!" William shouts, only seconds before the creature begins to move...

The setup is fairly simple, with only a few adjustment knobs. Next to a bank of them is a set of icons with a series of heads drawn. The scanner interprets them to mean "mind transfer matrix".

William shouts as the universe slams sideways, falls into an uncontrolled spin... Hunger...Food...Blood pumping...Move...Food...Blood...Eat...Eat...Move..Taste Happy...Eat...Fear...Strange Tasting...Eat...Eat... Waking up, William slides away from the mind transfer pads, his tongue coated with a disgusting substance. Glancing up he can see the Nosbor attempting to eat through one of the transfer pads.... "It's mind was too primitive," William says into his comm unit, swallowing down a foul taste. "Couldn't control it. Unfortunately, it apparently had no problems using my tongue to clean the floor."

Like a badly tuned channel, William feels the world slipping away, away... ...and then back into focus again. This feels weird, William thinks, trying to form the words. How do I move my... ...an arm raises up before William's eyes, flexes, then is joined by another. And another... I've transferred minds with the Tawalli, William thinks, staring at the collapsed body across the floor. My body.

Suddenly the voice stops and jumps to what sounds like a bad recording. "I will destroy all the material from the violent races soon," the scanner pronounces, annunciating the particulars of the notebook. "It is important that dispensers q ,z and n which are of greatest danger be destroyed first. My attempts to control them have been unsuccessful." The scanner pauses as if calculating, then crackles... "With the exception of the "e" samples from the peaceful group, none of the rest appear to be coding properly in the genetic extrapolator. "Finally, I've installed a lever to control the power on the mind transfer device. It will have to be thrown before the machine will do its work."

Four levers in various positions angle out of the wall, apparently tied to a mechanism controlling a door.

"All four levers must be thrown simultaneously to release the security door" a feminine voice says. "Throwing the controls will allow all alien captives to be freed."

William winces as an arc of electricity bolts from a power mount in the wall. "Attempted security breach," a feminine voice says. "Do not attempt to free prisoners without proper authorization." Motorized, the levers return to their positions.

Clasping each of the four levers, William yanks down hard, howls with an insane joy as the door creaks open. Toddling away, there is a strange buzzing in the air as klaxxons begin to sound. "Security features now relinquished," a voice says distantly, like a voice far away... What's happening? William wonders, staggering... Swirling colors... Sitting up, William pads the body, feels the familiar features, smiles. "I'm the old me again!"

Something doesn't feel right. Something doesn't feel at all. With selective grace body parts begin to tingle, spasm and then fall numb. The knees go first, then hands, then feet. Weakly forcing dead limbs to work in conjunction, William flops back to the relative safety of the corridor. Thankfully, after a few minutes of focused effort, William manages to shake off the novocaine-like numbness. "Numbing beams," William guesses. "Someone doesn't want me to get to that pad at the end of the corridor. We'll just see about that."

Passing a hand over the ground, William feels an odd chill as fingers suddenly loose sensation. "The numbing trap is built into the floor apparently. I have to find a way to reflect back the beam."

With the deliberate care of someone laying a child down to rest, William places the mirror shard over the numbing beam trap. "Hopefully that will do it."

Boldly stepping into the wall of flame, William waits for a bite of heat that never comes. "Holograms!" William shouts joyously. "An optical illusion! I thought something looked wrong."

Still shivering from the effects of the cryogenic mist, the scientist seems to have a specter of resentment in his eyes. "You got through my security system," he says, somewhat disappointedly. "I had hoped that it would be more effective, but at least the breach was non-hostile. Hmm. Maybe if I redesign the holographic generators...But that can wait. Please wait a moment." He rummages noisily through something then offers something to William. "So you don't think I'm ungrateful for saving me. I have to admit that you arrived at a unique solution."

"Mmm, Ishtao," the scientist says. "Good to hear that things are going well for him. The security system here was a prototype for something that I was going to install on the Presidential Station. Obviously it will have to be reworked." Looking over the order, the scientist chuckles. "No problem," he says. Reaching in his pocket, he hands William a thin plastic card. "All the data that you could want is on there. Should help you along technically. Also you can be out from this room as the dampening field is not in effect in here."

Evidently torn off a printer, the printout seems to have been removed from a list of news briefs. "Activity in the Kornephoros sector is said to be "worsening", this statement coming from a sector Proconsuls meeting to discuss the problem of increasing Cin Sae Spawn attacks in the sector. At this time the source of the spawn spores is still unknown but officials feel that the solution may be nearing resolution. They still advise, however, that travellers carry laser firearms..."

William thinks the room feels very out of place somehow.

As William steps on the device, a sound can be heard coming from the passage to the right. It sounds as if a machine is powering up.

Nothing happens as William steps onto the device. It appears to be powerless at the moment.

William Eagerly activates the mind transfer controls. The only response visible on the display is a message which reads,"Two Subjects Required.".

"Sorry, only envoys of the President are allowed in this facility."

William notices that there are four levers jutting out of the wall here.

William notices that the wall to the north seems to be different than the rest of the rock around it.

William see something under some debris to the east of them.