Cargo of Death

Tall Ships are renowned for their luxury. Their Desarge class of liners are so luxurious that their reputation spreads across the three arms, and The Pride of Skibbereen is no exception. Every suite is individually decorated by the finest craftsmen on any world, less a liner, it is more a palace. The Pride of Skibbereen is a reason to travel as much as a means.

As any film buff will recognise, the ship's name comes from the first of a number of ground-breaking films screened in the mid-2100s. Much of the interior of the ship is fashioned in the mock-noir style that the film pioneered, and there is even a bar with a 'genuine' robotic barkeep similar to the one in Citizen K-219.

Keeping to the spirit of the films, passengers are expected to dress in mock-noir style. Synthetics are taboo, beads (especially braided into long hair) and facial disfigurement (after two influential actors of that time) are in. Implants are right out, and should be cosmetically disguised. Somewhat bizarrely, for they were never part of mock-noir, masks and masquerades are 'in'.

There are sober sides to The Pride of Skibbereen, but it is quite clear where the fun is to be had. It is also quite clear that the players do not fit in. Perhaps their clothes are not 'in', or their colonial accents are just a little too obvious, but they find themselves gently shunned by most passengers. It is partly because of this that Louise Artois asks the players for help. 'Obviously' they are used to the sort of job she wants done.

There are a number of ways that the players might find themselves travelling on The Pride of Skibbereen. A deceased relative might have left several tickets in their will. Alternatively, the characters might be on the run and The Pride of Skibbereen the first ship outsystem. A job might entail accompanying an item of merchandise to a customer on another world, or perhaps they are on a softly-softly security detail, a low-key bodyguard assignment. Maybe the characters win a competition, or (simplest of all) perhaps they decide to take a cruise to 'get away from it all'?

Louise explains that she is a scientist working for Chemox, a French bio-chemical corporation, and she fears for her life. AmeriCo, an unscrupulous American corporation with a reputation for piracy, is trying to force her to reveal the nature of her work. Unfortunately, she thinks they have gained the cooperation of the crew, so she cannot go for help there.

The task she would like the players to perform is simple: could they sneak into her room and get some medication that she desperately needs? Louise does not have her work aboard, so the players need not look for that. Just the medication. She can even give them the key.

Should the players ask what her research is, she will simply raise an eyebrow and smile. It is none of their business, but if pressed she will mention something about 'chemical water reclaimation from camel-fly habitats on Dunkelheim.' Louise will pay handsomely if the players succeed, but is unused to this sort of bargaining. The players will easily be able to push the price well above what they might 'normally' receive. She has easy access to Lv 5000, her upper limit.

Louise Artois
Bodytype: Normal
Size:      11  Determination: 15    Age: 33
Strength:  11  Intelligence:  16    Career: Academic
Dexterity: 12  Eloquence:     11    Nationality: French
Endurance:  9  Education:     13    Coolness Under Fire: 2
Skills: Bureaucracy-1, Writing-1, Computer-2, Information Gathering-3,
Genetics-7.

Louise is composed, attractive, and good at her job. She performs well under pressure when in the laboratory, but is rather fragile elsewhere.

Louise is lying. Her research is nothing as honourable as she claims. Instead, it is a new and terrible bio-weapon. She has just resigned from Chemox and is travelling to take up a position with Sequendi, the giant Chinese corporation.

The Pentapods are always searching for new markets for their products. The one they have been working on with Louise Artois is particularly interesting: a long-lived biological plague almost impossible to eradicate. Chemox, naturally enough, have developed a counter agent.

Development was almost complete when a failed takeover bid resulted in a change of upper-management. The new head of R&D didn't like what he saw, and the department was closed down. Unfortunately, he was not quite rigorous enough and Louise Artois escaped, taking her work with her. Several other corporations have expressed an interest, including AmeriCo. However, AmeriCo is not interested in buying Louise's work, only in stealing it. Louise imagines that the two Americans work for AmeriCo, and is hiding from them until she reaches Sequendi.

Louise is carrying the plague within herself, only regular injections with her 'medication' prevent it from killing her. She is understandably desperate to recover her medication. When she reaches her destination, she will undergo surgery and have the plague removed.

It is more accurate to describe the plague as a form of parasitic organism which feeds on the human body. The organisms look roughly like tiny starfish with elongated legs. There are two different elements, most important of which is the Mother, no bigger than a money spider. She gives birth (at a rate of one a minute) to the second type - Warriors. One Mother is the head of a nest of thousands of pinhead-sized Warriors.

Warriors are quite hardy and require neither air nor food except the nutrient supplied by the Mother. They work together when necessary and can show a surprising amount of initiative in trying to reach their objectives.

The Warriors search for food for the Mother, and in turn are fed a special nutrient by her. Should a food supply grow sparse, then the Warriors will die. Eventually the Mother perishes, but as she will ingest almost anything organic, food is usually in plentiful supply.

The Mother can only give birth to Warrior elements, but each of these has the potential of creating a whole new nest. If one reaches a human, it lays a single minuscule egg directly into the bloodstream. The operation is painless, the Warriors being equipped with an anaesthetic. The Warrior then dies, long before the egg hatches into a Mother.

Many, many eggs can be laid into a host, each taking about two hours to mature and hatch. Within minutes the newly born Mother (smaller than the dot over this i) is producing more Warriors, and as each is already in the bloodstream, each lays its egg. Before long the Mother escapes, cutting her way through the skin and leaving the egg riddled human behind. At this point the host is probably unaware of a problem.

Eventually (five or six hours after the first egg is laid), the hundreds of new-born Mothers will start blocking veins and arteries. Circulation stops, and the host dies. The Mothers leave the body once decomposition sets in, although some may have left long before that.

Chemox originally hired Louise Artois because of her history with Provolution, the society dedicated to evolution through science. Her knowledge of human genetics is formidable.

It is this connection that has drawn what she believes to be two AmeriCo operatives. Agents working for American Intelligence have been tracking Provolution ever since it was formed, and have traced Louise to The Pride of Skibbereen. They know what she looks like, but being only two in number, have only limited resources. They were content to watch her at first, waiting to see if she made contact with any others from Provolution. Unfortunately, she saw them, bolted, and disguised herself. The ubiquitous masks have made identifying her nearly impossible and the agents are instead watching her room. Which she has yet to return to.

The agents have been in touch with Tall Ships, but have received no cooperation. The company prefers to keep its neutral policy intact. However, they are watching events with interest.

Like all passengers (and crew), the agents are unarmed. Unarmed, but dangerous all the same.

Agent Helices
Bodytype: Endomorph
Size:      13  Determination: 13    Age: 27
Strength:  14  Intelligence:  11    Career: Enforcer
Dexterity: 12  Eloquence:     14    Nationality: American
Endurance: 11  Education:      9    Coolness Under Fire: 8
Skills: Bureaucracy-0, Psychology-0, P-Suit-0, Stealth-0, Computer-1,
Melee-1, First Aid-1, Streetwise-2, Ground Car-2, Sidearm-3.

Agent Helices is young and eager, still in love with his job. He doesn't tend to take things very seriously, and often sees the funny side of things, which often infuriates his partner.

Agent Smith
Bodytype: Ectomorph
Size:      10  Determination: 11    Age: 39
Strength:   8  Intelligence:  11    Career: Enforcer
Dexterity: 15  Eloquence:     12    Nationality: American
Endurance: 10  Education:      8    Coolness Under Fire: 6
Skills: Psychology-0, Sidearm-1, Security Systems-1, Streetwise-2,
Ground Vehicle-2, Stealth-2, First Aid-2, Disguise-2, Computer-3, Melee-3,
Information Gathering-3.

Agent Smith has grown cynical during his time in American Intelligence, and has completely lost his sense of humour. This is something that his partner finds rather funny.

Unfortunately, there is a third party that neither the agents nor Louise is aware of. Hiram Steyr is a Sequendi troubleshooter, and is field-testing Louise's work. He stole Louise's notes during her final days at Chemox, and knows of her medication and the sample. His assignment is to see how successful the plague is, and to this end has switched Louise's medication for coloured water. He has his own supply, on which he is dosed as a precaution.

Steyr stole Louise's medication from beneath the agent's noses by disguising himself as one of the crew and stealing a Master-key. The switch took less than a minute and the Master-key was returned unnoticed. Steyr has redisguised himself and will monitor events closely. His escape route involves one of The Pride of Skibbereen's life-capsules and contacting another Sequendi agent at the other end of the flight.

Hiram Steyr
Bodytype: Normal
Size:       9  Determination: 15    Age: 30
Strength:   9  Intelligence:  10    Career: Troubleshooter
Dexterity: 14  Eloquence:     14    Nationality: Austrian
Endurance: 10  Education:     11    Coolness Under Fire: 6
Skills: Survival-0, Stealth-0, Hover Vehicle-1, P-Suit-1, Sidearm-2,
First Aid-2, Streetwise-2, Information Gathering-2, Computer-2, Combat
Rifleman-3, Melee-3, Disguise-3.

Steyr is quietly competent, and very loyal to Sequendi. He will try to get his evaluation and data to his contact whatever happens. Steyr will avoid drawing attention to himself, and is dangerous when cornered.

Stealing Louise's medication is easy. The simplest method is to borrow her key, walk into her suite and take the medication. It is exactly where it should be and the characters can earn their money in a little under thirty seconds.

The rest of the room is fairly non-descript. At least, as non-descript as any suite is aboard The Pride of Skibbereen. Louise has nothing much of interest among her possessions, even her computer is pretty non-descript (she keeps her work files on her person at all times).

The reaction of the American agents depends entirely on player behaviour. They will prefer to stay in the background and will shadow the players in an effort to find Louise. At the very most (assuming that they do not believe the characters to be Provolution members) the agents will take the characters aside and speak to them briefly, probing for information. They will not take overt action unless in self-defence. Whatever happens, the agents will target the characters for questioning once the ship arrives at its next port - there they will be able to call on far greater resources.

Once the medication is retrieved, Louise will pour it into her subdermal auto-injector, thank the characters, and pay them. That will be it; she will walk away, obviously immensely relieved.

It is only half an hour before she is back (longer if the players have hidden themselves somewhere awkward). Something is wrong, very wrong. The kick she was expecting never happened and she has realised what the players have given her is water. She had already missed several doses and the egg might already have hatched - Louise is desperate for her medication and sends the players back.

Of course, there is nothing to find. When they get back (trailed by two confused agents) Louise is cracking up. Very, very upset and very, very desperate, she might be on the verge of death. At any moment she might keel over and die as a vital artery is blocked by tiny bodies. She almost turns hysterical, but with player help she calms down and thinks straight: she needs her medication.

With the players in tow (and ignoring the Americans) she returns to her room to search in vain. If it isn't in the room then someone has stolen it: AmeriCo! (Should the thought that the players could be AmeriCo agents cross her mind then she will flee and cause all sorts of trouble - enter Tall Ships Security.)

It is then that Louise makes a huge decision and shows the players the discs containing her work. (There is a nice fifteen minute presentation suite in Mickey-Mouse language for the technically inept.) She tells them what they are up against, promises them untold riches if they can find her medication, and (above all) demands their word of silence. Then she sends them out to find AmeriCo and save her life.

As the players search, Louise slips slowly into insanity. She starts believing she can feel the Mothers inside her, thinks that every ache and pain is a vein blocked. She strips off and examines herself thoroughly when it occurs to her that a Mother might have cut its way out. If the players have not left someone to watch over her, then she is gone when they return - wandering The Pride of Skibbereen in search of her salvation. Either way, it is only a matter of time before she dies and is wheeled off to sick-bay.

If the players do not act soon enough (if they do not contact the ship's crew) the plague will be out of control very quickly. Once the Mothers are out and about, they are almost impossible to find, and it only takes one teeny Warrior to lay an egg for the system to start all over again.

Actually searching for the medication is foolish, as is annoying the Americans. The players should isolate Louise immediately and take her computer discs to use as proof. The plague is a terrible threat, and should be treated as such. In an idle moment the characters can calculate the effect of just one Mother being allowed to arrive on Earth, or at least calculate how long it would be before nobody was left alive.

If the characters act swiftly enough, then the plague can be isolated with little difficulty. If they are slow in taking the correct course of action, then they will find themselves with a fight on their hands, one that they are likely to lose!

Once officers of The Pride of Skibbereen step in then the control slips from the players' fingers. However, the captain will treat the characters with deference, unconsciously thinking of them as experts when they are obviously not. If the plague gets out of hand, then quick-thinking people will be in short supply!

Once the nature of the plague is known, The Pride of Skibbereen's captain acts fast. His ship may be doomed, but not while he can do something about it. Passengers will be confined to quarters and the pressure doors sealed in an effort to isolate the plague. It might work, it might not, but he is certainly going to try. If it becomes clear that his ship is doomed, then he broadcasts a detailed SOS and drives The Pride of Skibbereen into the nearest star.

The best way to deal with the plague is to isolate it until it can be dealt with by port authorities. However, this may be difficult, particularly if Louise wanders the ship for too long - before long Mothers are going to be crawling away and starting nests of their own.

The nests themselves are reasonably easy to destroy. Fire quickly kills the Mothers and Warriors, but may leave areas untouched. Without a better means, fire is the best way to destroy nests. Of course, fire is not much of a solution for those already infected.

Finding the nests, particularly in the overdecorated interior, is a hazardous pursuit, and best conducted from the inside of a vacuum suit. Even this has its problems as Warriors can cling to the outside of a suit and be transported to another area. (Remember, vacuum does not harm them.)

Louise's medication is detailed in her notes, but The Pride of Skibbereen is not equipped with the laboratory that its manufacture requires. However, it is equipped with a very modern kitchen and sophisticated sick-bay and between them it might be possible to cook up a cocktail similar in effect to the medication. It is a long shot, but dying men will grasp at straws.

Regular drugs will slow the Mothers, but never kill them outright. There is a source of the real medication aboard, but it may be difficult to trace. Steyr is keeping it for himself. A room-to-room search might find it, but only then if Steyr is caught unawares. More promising is to use the shipboard cameras to identify the disguised Steyr in the corridor and try to follow him back to a suite. Unfortunately, Steyr has only a limited amount of the medication - enough for three people at the most.

It is possible to cobble together a blood filter to remove the eggs and Mothers. This will be rather ineffective, and much too slow, although it is along the right lines. Somewhat more success will be had in developing a test to determine who is infected and who is not (this is detailed in Louise's notes). The test works best when the subject is heavily infected, and a negative reading should be re-tested.

The sick-bay is likely to be one of the first areas infected. As more and more people are infected, they will complain of cramps and pains as eggs block minor arteries. They will flock to sick-bay, and they will die.

The Pride of Skibbereen has twenty cryogenic freezers. Freezing people is an unpopular business, but it works. Freezing the infected (or the first twenty, anyway) does not kill the plague, but it means that there is time to get the patient to a hospital where they can undergo a proper cure: total blood scrubbing. This can be done at any modern hospital, providing there is enough blood. (If there was the blood available, this would be a viable option aboard The Pride of Skibbereen.)

If The Pride of Skibbereen has not used up its share of miracles, the outbreak of plague will occur just a few hours out from its next port of call. Although extreme care will have to be taken in ensuring the the contamination does not spread ashore, the ship will have access to modern laboratory facilities and a large enough hospital. The medication can be manufactured in sufficient quantity to ensure there are no more deaths, and while the passengers wait in quarantine, the ship can be thoroughly disinfected.

Otherwise, there will be deaths. Either way, Steyr will have to review his escape plans - abandoning ship is a sure way to die: violating quarantine is a serious offence.

The American agents will want to question the players if they have not done so before. The players can't give them any useful information, but it is wise if they avoid any future involvement with Provolution. American Intelligence are a humorless bunch best not tangled with.

Legal proceedings will be long and complicated, and will probably tie up the players' movements for some while. They are witnesses, and several hundred passengers will be screaming for compensation from somebody. They have been badly treated, quarantined, and exposed to plague - and they want blood. Chemox is likely to go under, although Sequendi should fare somewhat better (it is large enough to weather a few storms). The players may be cast as heroes or villains by the media, and the publicity this scandal commands will bump their Renown several notches in either direction. Either way, it's better than winding up dead!