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PROJECT PROTEUS

In document Aberrant D20 Sourcebook (Page 87-90)

From OpNews

Live, 11/09/07

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From a Department of Defense memo, classified Deep Black; 08/20/06

Dr. Fielding:

General Endicott is very insistent that Project: Cornucopia be brought up to operating status within schedule. The American military is already over-reliant on nova personnel — we need these exoskeletons up and running, Utopian scientific sanctions be damned. Perfecting the power grids is your only concern — we’ll handle the security. General Endicott has told me to reassure you that he is privy to information that will keep the Utopians off our backs, even if they should uncover our research. We can be certain that they won’t want to take this to a public arena.

Cpt. Charles Moring

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Communiqué double-encrypted with Navajo Daedalus 3; dated 10/12/07

Director:

I’ve uncovered quite a bit (see attached), but no direct access to the Babel Dossier yet.

The reason for this is simple: Æon has a network unconnected to the OpNet (or anything else that I can see). It’s in Special Projects, of course. I did get a glimpse; the terminal looks like a prop from a vintage sci fi movie, but I scanned a lot of processing power.

I’m supposed to avoid Maggie Mercer, but that puts me at a dead end. Only a unanimous vote from the Æon Council can override her approvals. I don’t mean to speak out of turn, but I thought you had connections on the council. Can’t you get me access?

Please advise, Talpa

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Communiqué double-encrypted with Navajo Daedalus 3; dated 06/03/08

I’ll presume everything is going well on your end, Director. Nonetheless, my best wishes.

Dr. Enrikssen is showing some signs of restlessness, as I’d projected; all that intellect can hardly be finding sufficient challenge in engineering and architecture. His ability to process and design seems to be speeding up, at least when he’s not being currently faced with a direct problem to solve; he’s progressed to completing roughly three designs per hour, complete with architectural sketches. He’s currently delegating the computerized reproductions to assistants — apparently there isn’t enough stimulus to finishing a 3-D model of a design that he’s already mentally completed.

I’m thinking of testing the new games of chance from Hattori’s pet projects on the doctor. With any luck, the advanced probability configurations, when set to cycle through shifting odds in a non-repeating series of patterns, will provide enough stimulation to occupy his mind during non-peak hours. Psych tells me that he has just enough of a gambling bug to take interest, with a minimal chance of overattachment. In the meantime, all seems to be going quite well with Cocharin. She’s continuing to adjust well to life in Engineering, and the department heads worked out a schedule that allows her to use her matter-transmutation abilities on a regular basis without any real quantum-bleeding or signs of stress. I’ve managed to bond fairly closely to her, and from what she’s sharing, she seems to be taking the

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Communiqué double-encrypted with Navajo Daedalus 3; dated 06/05/08

Nyeung:

Good job on your recent efforts. Your next bit of business is to prep Ishida and Fashoud and have them ready to support T2MAs in the closing of the Sop Moei plant; they’ll be wetworking among the local government and military in order to make certain that the closedown is permanent. A full dossier of their role is enclosed. Business as usual for T2MCe, Eu and Am.

Also, I want an updated full report on the Æon Council — they’ve taken a few steps I hadn’t expected of late, and I very much dislike surprises. Use a second-tier agent; I want a purer information feed to minimize the chance of discrepancies.

Director Thetis

Communiqué double-encrypted with Navajo Daedalus 3; dated 07/02/08

Nyeung:

You’re certain you do not mean the granddaughter? Mercer himself conference called on a meeting? He has been incommunicado since the early ’50s; the man must be over a hundred years old!

At least that explains the decisions the Æon Council has made of late. Even at his age, Mercer is bound to be a problem. Track him down and observe, but do not engage. Confirm his degree of involvement and his mental state. We must know his degree of lucidity, what he has planned for Æon and how it will affect our efforts.

Director Thetis

Unmarked communiqué, dated 06/09/08

Chiraben:

I would very politely like to remind you to keep in fucking line. We are not an organization of sadists and bullies. We are not in this for kicks. We have been entrusted with the task of doing what needs to be done in order to better the whole goddamn planet. If that means somebody dies now and again, that’s what it means. Our operating principles are here in order to prevent us from paralyzing ourselves with every last ethical question; they were instituted by necessity so that we can achieve actual, regular progress on the betterment of human society as a whole. They do not give you carte blanche to do whatever the hell you like to somebody that has been designated a liability. We are Project Proteus. We are the oil that keeps the gears turning. We are the screen that keeps the baselines from outright panic. And we are the only thing standing between the status quo and war or genocide, between the rest of the world and lunatics like Mal or those other THINGS. In other words, Chiraben, we do not fuck around. You work alone not because we want you to do whatever the hell you want. You work alone because that is the way we do things. If word comes to me again of you misusing your power to get your own sadistic kicks, then I swear to God that you will be the next designated liability. And don’t even fucking think of trying to blow our cover to save your own skin. That didn’t save Slider — who was one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever known — and it by God will not save you. I know where you live, and I know where you sleep. Don’t even think of doing a damn thing that might possibly compromise us ever again, or what you did to your last “assignment” will look like a picnic with your grandmother compared to what we will do to you.

In document Aberrant D20 Sourcebook (Page 87-90)