machines than living creatures. In this mystery, however, you can make the Kids doubt this by giving them signs that maybe the machines understand more than people think? A robot looks at the Kids in a funny way, or stops working when they pass by. Robots are rare, but when the Kids do see one, you should make the most of it to make the Kids doubt what they know. Maybe the robots aren’t just mindless machines?
I, W A GNER
The books are filled with underlines and notes that suggest that the reader seems to have been particu-larly interested in how Gods can be born into peo-ple. One note reads: “Am I a God?” On the wall in the living room there are ones and zeroes written with black ink across one wall. The digits are drawn with exact measure:
A plastic file next to the coffee table holds a large number of documents about the Kids themselves:
photographs of them, their personal information, and a couple of photocopies of their own texts from school. There are also drawings of their houses, as well as names and information on their families, rel-atives, and friends.
TROUBLE
There is no apparent Trouble at Lena’s farm, but the Kids will see a small shadow move around in an old barn. If they investigate the barn and make a sneak or
move roll, they will find Lena’s cat, Asimov. She is hun-gry and in bad shape, and shy of strangers.
CLUES
If the Kids make an investigate roll, they realize that the furniture in the kitchen has been rearranged. Some-one has tried to clean up after a violent fight. Large amounts of bloody paper and empty detergent contain-ers have been thrown in the trash at the back of the house. If the Kids have been in Lena’s house before, they also realize that several framed photos of Lena are missing.
If the Kids search the second floor and make an
investigate roll, they find a small voice recorder that Lena has hidden in her bathroom, next to her bath salts and a rubber duck. Lena has drawn a necklace and a name tag that says “Nobel” on the duck with a black felt pen. On the voice recorder, there is a record-ing that Lena made as she soaked in the bath.
The strings of ones and zeros on the wall were written by robots, instructed by Wagner's servants Hugin and Munin. The numbers are a binary code, and can be translated to read, “Long Live Lena!” The players can figure it out for themselves, or you can let them roll for it using the comprehend skill.
LENA’S VOICE RECORDER
“My plan that I will follow without deviation, sloppiness or shortcuts … not that past mis-takes in any way have been my fault, but still
… where was I?”
(Cough)
“The first step is to eliminate the damn Kids. Had it not been for them, the people on the Mälaren Islands [in Boulder City]
– these imbecile, inbred and self-righteous sheep! – would have already gotten what they deserve. The only thing that prevented me from unleashing my wrath on them were those precocious Kids. When I get my hands around their necks....”
(Splashing in the water)
“There, there, Nobel. You will come with me to the podium when I receive the Big Prize. When I face the cameras, and finally get the chance to tell the truth about my-self and how the people here, despite their absolute lack of brains, have managed to turn the world against me and hide the only true genius in our time...”
(Kissing sound)
“Namely me, sweet Nobel!”
“But first, I must find a way to get my revenge on those Kids, and get them out of the way. Maybe I can use the Wagner Rings against them? They are, after all, surrounded by machines and robots.
168
CHAPTER 12
I must strike at them before they suspect anything. And what then, you wonder, little Nobel?”
(Intense kissing sound)
“Then, I will rise to the sky like Freya or Odin, controlling the robots, and making them see me as I truly am, a God, and I will have them punish my enemies. With an army of robots I could...”
(Someone knocks on the door)
“Come in!”
(A door opens and a metallic voice is heard in the distance.)
“Yes, of course, Isaac, I want cream in the chocolate, as always!”
(A door is closed)
“He pretends he doesn’t know exactly how I want it. There was a time, dear Nobel, when I thought I could trust that robot, but Isaac has let me down. He is just like the
others, he wants to use me to make a name for himself. One day, he will try to poison me, I’m sure of it.”
(Silence)
“I’d better sneak down and see that he doesn’t put anything in my cup.”
(A stopper is pulled out of the bath and water flows. The recorder is turned off.)
LOCATION 2: THE POLICE STATION IN STENHAMRA
The police inspector Ing-Marie Blankäng [Karen Richards] has been assigned the job of examining the dead body that the Kids found in the creek. Ing-Ma-rie is described in the Mystery Landscape, on page 109. Ing-Marie got the assignment only because sev-eral of her colleagues are at a conference in Stock-holm [Las Vegas].
Lena's Farm
Kitchen
Bathroom
Bathroom Laundry
Bedroom
Bedroom BuildingMain
Living Room Patio
Barn
Barn
Machines and scrap
Low Fence
Low Fence BarnBarn
Hole
0 1 2 3 4 5 meters
0 5 meters
Hall
I, W A GNER
GROUND FLOOR
UPSTAIRS
TROUBLE
The Kids can contact Ing-Marie to find out what the police know about the murder of Lena Thelin. They can get past the desk sergeant secretary using charm
or sneak, or they can visit Ing-Marie’s rented house, which is filled with notes and newspaper clippings re-lated to rumors about strange creatures.
If the Kids make empathize rolls when they talk to Ing-Marie, they realize that she is afraid to do anything that gives her boss a reason to transfer her away from the station. They also realize that Ing-Marie has a strong belief in the occult and in secret conspiracies. If the Kids tell her about Lena Thelin and their past adventures, and make a charm roll, Ing-Marie will help them.
Wagner has managed to infiltrate the police sta-tion’s security system, which means that he controls the cameras, and can see and hear everything the Kids say in the building. Tell the Kids that they feel as if they are being watched. If they roll investigate, they notice that the cameras are following them, and that they seem to be recording everything they say. A Kid who takes the security system apart with program no-tices that someone has hijacked it, and that all the information is being sent to someone with the code-name W.
CLUES
Ing-Marie has concluded that the woman found dead was murdered by a robot. The narrow wound com-pletely through the head was caused by a thin elastic
“finger,” about a meter long, which some robots use to manipulate circuits inside machines where space is ex-tremely limited. The finger is hard enough to be pushed through metal.
Ing-Marie has found traces of a single robot with human-like feet, which seems to have dragged the body into the mud by the creek. The tracks indicate that the robot was relatively small. She is convinced that the murder is the beginning of a robotic revolution. She desperately wants to get her boss to report the incident to the security services, but he doesn’t believe her.
Ing-Marie has realized that the ID card on the body was forged, and she has discovered that there are fake data files creating a past for the fictional
“Mona Selin,” going back to her birth. Ing-Marie is very grateful if the Kids reveals Mona’s real name.
Ing-Marie is currently investigating what “Mona Se-lin” [Priscilla Andrews] worked on at Microlex, and she can help the Kids get in touch with the twins Olof and Hadar at the company.
Ing-Marie can become an important ally for the Kids. She will believe what they say, and she is willing to help them in difficult situations.
LOCATION 3: MICROLEX
Microlex is a company whose offices and facilities are located in the outskirts of Stenhamra [Boulder City].
It supplies the Loop with microscopic electronics. The company building is a large, single-story white brick structure, with a black roof. The area is enclosed with a tall, wire fence. There are about 20 cars in the parking lot inside the fence. There are a dozen rooms on the ground floor of the building. There are more rooms in the basement, which is where sensitive information, expensive materials, and hazardous sub-stances are stored in locked vaults. Some thirty people work at the company’s facilities.
The company director is Ingvar Sten [Eugene Bur-ton]. He has been in contact with Ing-Marie at the police station, and knows that the newly employed
“Mona Selin” (Lena Thelin) is dead, probably mur-dered. A couple of days ago, his security officers – the twin brothers Olof and Hadar Svensson [Albert and Arthur Brown] – found out that Mona was using a false name and she was using the lab for her own in-ventions. Ingvar has decided to keep this information from going public, in order to avoid bad press. Olof and Hadar have been ordered to stop investigating.
They are not happy with this, and have secretly contin-ued their investigation.
Olof and Hadar have their own desks opposite one other, just inside the main entrance. Mona’s desk was in the basement, where she worked alone. She was employed as a bio-engineer, working on circuit boards for robots.
TROUBLE
The Kids need to somehow get access to the infor-mation stored on Lena’s computer. They can try to break in to Microlex, or contact Olof and Hadar. If the Kids try to break in at night, they must deal with
170
CHAPTER 12
the tall fence (requiring move rolls to climb), the highly advanced burglar alarm system (special attribute ad
-vancedsensors 2), and finally Olaf’s and Hadar’s huge German shepherd dogs, Olga and Hanna (special attri-butes fiercebite 2 and fastrunner 2).
Ing-Marie Blankäng can introduce the Kids to Olof and Hadar, or they can contact the twins themselves. A Kid making an empathize roll will realize that the broth-ers are keen to solve the mystery of Mona, and that they are grateful for any and all information they can get from the Kids.
If the Kids get to Lena’s computer, they have to get past her security system to access the information. This first requires a successful calculate roll to understand how the system works, and then a successful program
roll to get past the system. Failing any of the rolls caus-es the information to be erased.
CLUES
The information about Lena’s design work on micro-scopic machines, which she calls Wagner Rings, can be found on her computer. These machines are built out of her own DNA. Robots infected by the WR become somewhat self-aware, and, to some extent, influenced by Lena’s thoughts and memories. It is possible to send messages to infected robots using a transmitter.
A Kid who studies the material and makes a com
-prehend roll realizes that it is possible to infect humans.
She also understands that WR will leave the host if giv-en time, and must be constantly replgiv-enished to remain active. The Kid also realizes that the laboratory at Mi-crolex is too small to produce WR sufficient enough to infect more than three or four robots. In order to expand production, a significantly larger laboratory would be required.
Microlex
0 5 meters
I, W A GNER
Parking Lot ConferenceRoom ConferenceRoom
Reception Stairway Stairway
Office Office Office Office
Office
Office Office Office Office
Office
Office
Office
Office Office
Office
Office Upper Factory
Floor
Laboratory
Elevator Elevator
Lower Factory Floor Storage
Cafeteria Kitchen
Storage
SecureStorage
Lab
Lab
Storage
Storage
Office
Office
Office
GROUND FLOOR BASEMENT