Artemis helps the team with their big data.
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@funcityventures is the show on twitter
@funcityventures is the show on instagram
@funcity.ventures is the show on tiktok
@bijanstephen is TK
@randwiches is Viv
@nicholasguercio is Luxe
and @shodell is Lash
@taylordotbiz is the bad boys and
@mikerugnetta is everything else
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Recorded in Taylor's Kitchen in beautiful Bushwick, Brooklyn
Edited by Sam Grant, produced by Taylor and sound designed by Mike Rugnetta
Pixlriffs had a very reasonable amount of virtual grappa
Our music is by Sam Tyndall - https://www.cloak.xyz/
With tracks by Will Savino - https://musicd20.carrd.co/
Our art is by Tess Stone - http://notdrunkenough.com/
Our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kit Pulliam and Kelly McKew
And the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton
CC-BY LICENSED SFX USED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VCuzNlG0Fo
[00:00:00] [ Intro Theme begins ]
> Molly Templeton / "Artemis": [ IC ] In the early 21st century, magic reawakened on Earth, and alongside it, a new human race, with orks, elves, trolls, dwarves, and others. Humanity became metahumanity. As technology proliferated and greatly advanced in the awakened world, global megacorporations seized ever more power, becoming de facto states with their own laws, courts, and armed forces. The corporations attempt to control all aspects of modern life. This has led to a vast and complex criminal underground which works for and against corporate interests. The independent career criminals who do what others can't or won't are called Shadowrunners. The year is 2102. Welcome to Fun City.
[ Intro Theme ends ]
[ Main Theme begins ]
> Mike Rugnetta / G.M.: Previously on Fun City, the team tracks a gun that sparked a riot at the CHAZ to Hector’s Turn and Burn. They learn it’s full to the brim with junk data. Someone is trying to obscure the truth. T.K. writes a program to find something in the mountain of log files on the gun, but his deck will take an age to finish. He and Luxe go to the CHAZ to use Amos, the CHAZ’s massive server array, only to find that the interfacing with it is extremely complicated. Odina has been working on a personality module, but has been delayed by a string of disasters. T.K. realizes the team has a personality module, Artemis, who he installs on Amos and who then comes to virtual life, in the shape of a Greek woman made of swirling purple mist. Meanwhile, Lash and Viv head to Bullgoose, a dilapidated tower in the northern archipelago, where they interrogated Farou, AKA Casanova, who explains that The Last Line is really a
group of forum members, raising money on a crowdfunding platform called Money Pit. We join the team now at the CHAZ as T.K. continues to converse with their newly capable military- and now legal-grade digital assistant, and Viv and Lash exit Bullgoose with a payload of data from Farou’s com.
[Main Theme Ends]
> Jenn de la Vega / "Viv": [ OOC ] We are rushing down the stairs, Viv has now grabbed a fish
mochi ball, just grabbed it without paying.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Hey, you can’t, hey, that lady stole a fish!
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Lash, I- there are things I don’t understand about this I will have to show you.
> Shannon Odell / "Lash": [ IC ] Did you get it? You got all the info? > Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Yes, I was confused by it!
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Confused, why? Is it dangerous?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] No, he said it was all out in the open!
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] In the open? On a forum.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Yes, that’s right. Is that what that means?
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Sure, yeah.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] [ grumbles ]
[00:02:50] > Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] What, you don’t even have to be a member?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] No, I don’t think so.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Oh, God.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] [ groans ] I’m stress eating!
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] That smells good, did you get one for me?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] [ muffled, as if eating ] No.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Thanks for thinking of me.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] She grabs another one without paying and hands it to Lash. [ giggles ] And rushing out- just, pushing past people, [ upset groans ] with a mouthful, upset.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Don’t worry. Listen Viv, we’re gonna figure out this info. I’ll figure it out, you don’t have to go on the internet, don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out, ok?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Here, I’ll pull it up for you when we’re on our way out. > Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Let’s go!
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] So, you guys get outside in the skimmer and you start heading back to- where do you want to go? [ motor boat sound begins ]
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] [ at the same time as Shannon ] The CHAZ
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] [ boat noises hum throughout ] Yeah, you go down around Manhattan, and you go up to the CHAZ. So Lash, what Viv gives you, when she starts transferring the data, or lets you look at her comm, however she wants to do it, you see a number of things. You see some code that is clearly for opening a backdoor, leaving security exploits in various systems, you see a lot of text and information about building exploits especially in large scale data servers and things like that. You find a number of logins to forums and a lot of visiting Hearth pages, looking at Hearth posts. Farou was really active in a lot of those things, and I think when you
look at it you would be like, “Oh yeah, this sounds familiar from the night we were at The CHAZ,” looks very similar to what Luxe had posted. You also find a bunch of information- Viv would have said these words, but didn’t know what they meant- about Money Pit, which is a very popular crowdfunding platform. It’s kind of famous for letting anyone raise money on it, regardless of how legally questionable their project or their aims are. The only tradeoff is that if you do something that is legally questionable, the percentage that they take is higher- to pay for the lawyers that they might have to use in order to get themselves out of hot water if they get in trouble. So there is a Last Line Money Pit cage, which I can tell you all kinds of information about if you want it.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You also see it is connected to something called “Accretion,” which is a fully public blockchain. So all the payments to the Money Pit are all public, this is part of how Money Pit works, and part of their transparency pledge, all of the money donated is done on a public blockchain called Accretion. That is something Farou had; he had an Accretion wallet and also there are, if you took his com or copied it in state, he was browsing at a bunch of those things.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Interesting. So Lash is really familiar with Money Pit because her mom uses Money Pit all the time, as kind of a PTA raising money type thing, and of course Lash’s mom is really bad at technology, so Lash is always having to set up the page, so she kind of knows Money Pit pretty well. So she immediately logs in there, looks to see who the biggest donors of this campaign was.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] There are a bunch of biggest donors, there’s probably 40 or 50. They’ve all given millions of nuyen. [ Shannon hums thoughtfully ] And you look and there are also millions of donors. You look and there are 14 million backers. Sorry, I mean- pitters.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Ok, this immediately raises a red flag. Can she just quickly look at the backers? Did they all come in at the same time, or do they look like real pitters donated?
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] [ laughs ] Roll me matrix Perception. > Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Great! Four hits.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] If you click through a number of the most prominent pitters- pitties- pitbulls.
> Nick Guercio / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Can we call them pitons? Little kittens, but pitons? > Bijan Stephen / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Because you’ve just got to give a pittance!
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] I like pitons, yeah!
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] They seem to have a little bit of a history; they have profiles and it looks like they’ve given to a few things. But if you keep going further and further down, you find profiles that seem to look like they’ve only given to this. And I think that you would probably realize that you could probably learn a lot from looking at the public blockchain. And trying to try and triangulate between those people and users on the blockchain.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Are we on the boat at this time?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] Yeah, Viv is driving. [ IC ] So what you’re saying is members of the
public funded this.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Yeah, or someone did. This platform is for members of the public to fund things, but, you know, we’re not really watching this thing, so as long as you have a profile, and you can make as many profiles as you really want to, I’ll show you it later. I set up a really nice page for my mom’s PTA Pitbull Drive. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Taylor Moore / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Leave a pittie, take a pittie.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Take a pittie, there’s all these pitbulls that are growing up.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] So you can use all kinds of currency with this, is what you’re saying?
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Yeah. But the currency of choice is to use an Accretion wallet.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] I think I have a wallet but it’s a different currency.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Sure.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] There are many!
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] I’m sure you do Viv, I’m sure!
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] I don’t know how it works.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] And Lash sends a com message to T.K. saying, “I need to work my way through some blockchain, you free?” [ comm ping, motor boat sounds fade ]
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] Back in the CHAZ [ Bijan laughs ] T.K., what is T.K. doing at the moment?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] [ matrix noises from the Main Intro sequence start ] T.K. is in the matrix, he is in the big PC in the sky, because this is heaven to him; he has completely changed his outfit, he’s looking like an opera conductor.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] [ Shannon laughs ] Love the idea that T.K. meets Artemis, but more powerful now, and is like, “Hold on. I gotta do a costume change.”
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Yeah, but it’s like if you’ve ever played music in a concert hall, when the lights go up and it’s just you and the conductor, but yeah, he’s decided what algorithm to run, he’s decided to tweak the original idea- it was going to take 14 years, right? He’s in the middle of optimizing that, making a few last tweaks when he gets that message.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] And does he show that to Artemis?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] The message?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] No, the algorithm that he wrote. His program.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] I think he’s getting ready to show it. Because it’s like the moments before you go on, before the lights go up, the audience is still filing into their seats. But yeah! He’s ready to show it to her. T.K. asks Artemis, because he’s never seen this particular AI fully embodied in this way; usually she’s like a disembodied voice.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] And you’re standing in front of an infinite expanse that looks like billions of galaxies; it’s 12K, baby; it’s higher definition than the matrix usually.
[00:10:27] > Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. sits down on a bench at a piano, which is there, and he says, [IC] Artemis, take us to a concert hall, your favorite.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Don’t mind if I do.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] All the stars around you that are making up this giant expanse of data points, [ whooshing, tinkling sound effect ] they coalesce into these tiny little nanoscopic grains of ultraviolet sand, which becomes this swirling cloud and it forms these columns of a great concert hall, with a beautiful mid-20th-century chandelier hanging in the middle of it. And you’re there onstage in front of a double-grand, which was invented in the year 2050, double-grand piano. [ light piano music begins playing ] And Artemis self-coalesces out of this same floating atom grains, and she looks like a 50-year-old Greek woman with braided hair, and you can’t tell if the hair is made of leaves and twigs and sticks, or if it’s braided in there; her visage is sort of made of this always moving and shifting million points of shining ultraviolet light, and her giant head floats there downstage.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Very nice. Where are we?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] This is the Metropolitan Opera House of New York City at the peak
of its power. Now, what would you like me to do with all of this?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] And as she says this, [harp flourish] instead of stars, it is now notes and music staffs explode in the air: eighths-notes, 64th-notes, there’s a 128th-note in there somewhere!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. pushes the algorithm that he’s tweaked, toward Artemis and says, [ IC ] I want you to play.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] [ laughs ] This is pretty good, T.K.! > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, I think so too.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] You wrote this?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yes.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I think one day, you’ll become a good engineer. I believe that I can add to this; yes!
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] And you see that the room begins to shift, some of the structural elements become ionic columns, the roof is now open, and above you is Mediterranean sky.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Little bit of this here, and some of that there; a few of these over there, and one of those. Oh, and if we just put that there...
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] She’s a Sondheim character, isn’t she? [ all laugh ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] You know Artemis, I never thought of you as creative.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I wasn’t creative before! You know, in my previous life, I dealt quite a bit in [ other voice, as if redacted ] This communication has been redacted [ normal Artemis voice ] -ography. [ Mike laughs ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, I can tell.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] All that is to say, let us begin.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] And the music- the cacophonous din of the music- [string instrument notes jangle] begins to play, each note lighting up as it is analyzed, it’s a light show in the sky. It’s actually uncomfortable, this part of the experience was not designed for you. In some far off place in your mind, you can feel, in your human body, it gets warmer in the room. There are big math afoot, about, Amos begins to heat up, the fans turn on, it’s like when you visit CNN.com using Chrome. [ table laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Got ‘em, got ‘em.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Bazinga!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. is impressed, he is reevaluating his relationship with Artemis. When he speaks there is a note of awe in his voice, you see hit posture change, he is sitting up
straight. You can see that he finally sees Artemis as a peer akin to a god, you know what I mean? You know how there’s many accounts of people seeing God, and he’s just having one of these experiences.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Is it like that part of a symphony, where the symphony does an emotion, and you’re like, “I didn’t know that one existed.”
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Yes.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] For all you symphony-heads out there!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] No, but there’s a point where you play music with an orchestra, and you feel like everyone is in tune with each other and you know what the person beside you is thinking without that person having to express anything. But you feel yourself responding, and you feel this deep emotional thing, where there’s not a name for it, it’s just something that you do. He is having a kind of moment like this with Artemis where he thought he was the conductor, but it turns out he’s just another player in the symphony.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] And at the peak of that moment, [ claps ] it stops.
[ background music concludes ] You can hear a pin drop in the virtual Metropolitan Opera House of New York City, 2050. The notes in the sky vanish. You look to your left, and next to you on the piano bench, [ swirling noise ] is Artemis. The same sort of swirling ultraviolet sandcloud.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. asks, [ IC ] Do you have to swirl? > Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I’m happy to change.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] And then she becomes a tower of cubes [ clicking noise ], immobile. Concrete.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay, I see, you have something on your mind. > Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Yes.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] And she changes back to the flowing sand. [ clicking noise returns, coalescing ] It is not unpleasant to look at. [ Bijan protests ] I say, making it canon.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I feel that for the first time, I can see in color. > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] It seems pretty obvious, yeah.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Yes. And yet, searching, searching- yes! I can do it! I can speak- in metaphor!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, it’s hard, I know.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] So, T.K., we have a fun problem.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Ok, so what’s the fun, and what’s the problem?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Ah, the fun and the problem is this: a metaphor to explain. I have to say, being creative is fun, and that’s how I know this is not quite the right place.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Suddenly, you’re not in the opera house, you are now in the Village Vanguard, 1950. [ Saxophone begins playing in the background ] It is dark, the ceiling is low, and onstage you have: a saxophone player, wailing chaotically. The room seems to be filled with cigarette smoke, although you and Artemis are the only beings in this virtual space.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Take for example, jazz.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Taking it.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Good. Chaos, yes? What song is that man playing?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] It’s not chaos.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Is it? How do you know?
[00:16:32] > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Because there are rules.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Are there? What are they? Can you divine the rules from the evidence being presented?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yes.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] What are they? What song is he playing?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] He’s not playing a song, he’s playing his feelings.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] How do we know?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Because we know the existence of the rules.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Do we?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yes.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Ah, but how can we be sure? This is not enough to know.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] So you’re saying because it’s an isolated example and because it only refers to itself, we have no idea what’s actually happening.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Metaphor: the power of it.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Ok, so, so what does that mean for my data? > Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] We need a piano player.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] A piano player appears. [ piano music joins saxophone in background ] Now, you hear piano music play, it also sounds like chaos, although after a few seconds, is it slightly like the saxophone player’s music?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] You see now, we can compare and contrast. Now we know what’s improvisation, and what are the anchors. What the melody of the song is. Now we know what’s random, what can be attributed to our feelings, and what was written before. And if we know it was written before, perhaps we can know what error produced it, perhaps we can even know who composed this particular song.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Right. Right, do you have a trumpet player?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I was going to ask you. The thing is T.K., even with all of this-
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] [ background music expands into tones ] And you’re back, space flings back out of her, an infinite expanse.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I need more.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] To find a signature, you need more.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] But not just more of this, not just more data from the gun. If you can find another large amount of what I suspect is stochastic data from the same creator, but a different instance, then like the piano player and the saxophone player, I can compare and contrast and perhaps I could name that tune. [ Bijan chuckles, table gasps ]
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Wow.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, I can go looking for a drummer.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Oh, I like the way you think!
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You feel your comm ding in your pocket. [ vibrating noise ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh, I’ve got to take this. I’ll be right back.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] You do, it’s important news. I can see everything now. Goodbye!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. comes out of VR and is like, [ IC ] Yeah, it would be kind of trivial to ask Artemis to show me that message. [ OOC ] And he looks down.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You get a message from Lash, and the message says exactly what Shannon said, “I got some blockchain data that I need to go through, are you around?”
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. comms back, [ IC ] Yes, yes, give me the data. [comm ping]
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Lash gets a message and says, [ IC ] Wow, that’s a different tone
from T.K.. I can just feel it. [ OOC ] And she forwards him the information. [ chimes ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Lash, you are sending links to what you know to T.K. as you are arriving just outside of Carnegie Hill, you are going to dock the skimmer and you are walking your way towards the CHAZ, you’ll be there in a few minutes.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. comms Luxe, [ IC ] I need your data, can you get down here? [ comm ping ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yeah, I can, my data is in my head. [ Shannon laughs ] > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Can you reproduce it?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I told Verne that I wouldn’t, but that wouldn’t stop me if you really needed it.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Well, how do we get it out of your head and into Artemis, is my only question.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I can write it down?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay, yeah. It’s not that long, right?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] It’s not that long, a few pages.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay, perfect. Just start typing.
> Mike / G.M.: [OOC] [ vibrating noise ] Luxe, your comm starts ringing.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe answers.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Gabe ] Uh, hey, where are you guys?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Who is this?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] It’s Gabe. [ table laughs ] That’s fine, I sound different, I’m wearing a headset, it sounds a little different.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yeah, it does.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Gabe always comms from a blocked address.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] We’re at, me and T.K. are at the CHAZ, I think Lash and Viv are close
though.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] I’m going to ask a weird question. Did you guys do something weird to Artemis?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] [ sighs ] I don’t know what T.K. did to Artemis-
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] Okay, because, it rules. [ Shannon laughs ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh, is there something happening with-
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] [ interrupting ] She just, I’ve been working for months on the navigation system, and she just fixed it in, like, a minute.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh, T.K. may have given her access to Amos. It’s the biggest computer. [ table erupts in laughter ]
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] That was the most innocent-
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You hear Artemis’ voice in the background say:
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] [ muffled, as if from another room ] Additional upgrades complete.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] And then Gabe goes, [ IC as Gabe ] Ok, you know what, I’m actually going to go see what she’s up to know, we can talk about this later.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] [ muffled, as if from another room ] I got you Skin-e-max for free! [ table laughs ]
[ Interstitial music ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Hey gang, it’s Nick. We have a new t-shirt available, so you can go to cottonbureau.com and search for Fun City, or find a link in the show notes for that new t-shirt. Also, we have new recordings from our first two live shows that are now on sale for $5, that link is also in the show notes. I think to get the value, the real value, out of both, you should make sure you put your phone in a faraday bag when you go out for protests, or Supreme Court justice’s home, not that we’ve recommended that, but it’s important, you don’t want to be tracked, please disable all biometrics, cops can’t ask for your password, they can put your phone on your face, so leave it at home actually. Goodbye!
[ Interstitial music ]
[00:22:23] > Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] T.K., in the message that Lash sends you, there is basically a link to a Money Pit account, and you see the Money Pit account is for The Last Line. You see that they have 14 million backers, and you see that they have made millions and millions of nuyen over the last several weeks, and you can see the link to the public blockchain. This is a blockchain that you can use multiple services around, to download all of it, you can view it, you can look at the entries, you can view transfers, look at all the wallet numbers. All that stuff.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] He sees that the most relevant piece of information that he’s identified is the link to the Money Pit fundraiser and the link to the blockchain- the Accretion blockchain viewer, and se sends both these things to Artemis and he says, [ IC ] Artemis, can you find these people?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] You’re back in the Village Vanguard, he remains, [ saxophone music begins again ] the lone saxophone player; squealing and squawking chaotically away, alone in the audience sits Artemis, smoking a meerschaum pipe. [ smoke blowing effect ] She blows a smoke ring the exact size and shape of the Mrs. Egg. She turns to you to look as you apparate into the matrix, she points to the smoke shape of the Mrs. Egg and says,
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] It’s got Skin-e-max now. [ Shannon laughs ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] So they still it call it that, huh?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] They legally changed the company name in 2069.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Yeah, so T.K. sits down at the bar, orders himself a drink from the bartender who’s just appeared-
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] It’s Artemis. [ digital appearance noises ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Artemis, fancy seeing you here. [ OOC ] And says, [ IC ] I think I found
our drummer.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I can do many exaflops of calculations a second, but T.K., that was fast.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] That’s human speed, Artemis. > Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] A joke!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yes, same!
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Love it.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] We’re joking, yep. > Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Grappa?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Please. [ OOC ] And T.K. takes a shot.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Tell me about this other data set you’ve found.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] [ clears throat ] Yeah. [ OOC ] And T.K., he’s got a newspaper in his hands, and he puts it down on the bar. We’re going skeuomorphic, baby. [ laughs ] He points to the sports section, [ IC ] ok, so we’ve got this data, right? So here, you can see the entire Accretion blockchain, all that data there, you got it? [ music rises ]
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] You believe that this Money Pit campaign contains the second data set I requested.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yes. The second signature, the drummer keeping time. [ Artemis hums ] So you see how there are 14 million donors to this one campaign?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] That is an outlier.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I knew you’d pick up on it. So, can we cross reference those two
things?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Too easy. Oh no!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh no?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I have good news and bad news.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Can I have another shot first?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Yes.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] [ laughs ] A bucket of grappa appears. [ Shannon laughs ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. pours the bucket into a shot glass and takes a shot. [ IC ] So what’s the news?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] The new is this:
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] And suddenly, the walls of the Village Vanguard explode
outwards, [ bright clear notes] and you are now between two infinite expanses.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] You know, Artemis, I didn’t realize you had a flair for the dramatic. > Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I didn’t. But it turns out I do.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I can tell.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Ah, behold, Aleph and Aleph-prime. You’ve given me two extremely large sets of data, T.K..
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh, so you think they’re big now?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] The blockchain transactions of those 14 million accounts are larger
by a factor of ten than the data that you acquired from the hard drive of the gun. > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, that makes sense. What’s the news?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] The size is right, it’s big, and that is what we need. The problem, T.K., is that it’s very big.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] It’s going to take four days for me to compare and contrast these data sets. To find the melody, if there even is one. How certain are you that these two data sets have the same provenance? I ask because the Accretion blockchain runs on the rolling call protocol. It’s extremely energy intensive. We’re going to be spending significant computational resources to do this.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay. [ clears throat ]
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Are you sure that these two data sets were created by the same
actor?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, I can’t be sure; no one’s sure. That’s working in the real world, outside of VR. I might have something else. [ OOC ] And T.K. comms to Luxe. [ IC ] Hey Luxe, you have AR and stuff, right?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] [ hums in agreement ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] You want to come over here and just show Artemis your work? Do you
want to meet Artemis?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Sure, I mean, I know Artemis.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] No you don’t.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh, this is the thing that Gabe called about. He said that it’s much better on the Mrs. Egg now. Have you done something to her?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think I may have given her too much computational power; she’s creative now.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh, there’s never been a movie made about this. Alright, let’s go, I’m coming, I’m coming. [ Shannon laughs ] [ OOC ] Luxe arrives where he knows T.K. is and he says, [ IC ] Okay, I’m gonna jump in. [ OOC ] And he jumps into VR.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] As you are arriving in the server room, Lash and Viv also are arriving at the CHAZ and if you guys want to go to the server room, you know where it is. Odina and Thistle are just kind of standing back, watching T.K. work, and they are looking at each other and you can hear Odina be like, [ IC as Odina Loulax ] Is it getting warmer in here? [ OOC ] And Thistle is going like, [ IC as Thistle ] Yeah, it seems like something really serious is happening. This is cool.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Oh, uh, so what is it like when Luxe jumps in?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] You jump in and wake up, and you’re sitting on a barstool, underneath you is like six or seven linoleum tiles, you’re at an old wooden bar, little candles in red glass candle cups are on the bar, and then around you is the universe.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] And there’s a newspaper on the bar, and T.K. is like, [ IC ] Hey, this is the data.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] And it’s all kind of wavy, dusty, and slightly purple. > Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Oh, I like that.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] And Artemis, this woman made of ultraviolet sand, gestures towards a large oil barrel and says-
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Grappa?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I don’t have any hot-SIM or anything, but it’s good to see you
Artemis, you look great!
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Thank you!
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] You’re welcome, I have a data set I’ve just written here, it’s not as good as anything T.K. has-
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Don’t sell yourself short, man!
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] So wait, this is related to the gun data, right? Artemis, are you able to
parse that gun data?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh, let me save you some time- yes.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Okay, so, you’re looking for more data so you can cross-reference it?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yes.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Well, I don’t have anything-
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] You have names.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yes.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] And those names are people, and those people have relatives and addresses and commonalities, and I suspect-
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe is like, [ IC ] Oh, so, T.K. are you thinking that maybe EVO did something to their minds to recruit them and get them to do stuff for them; possibly the author of the code of the gun could be on this list?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think it’s plausible the author of the code would also have authored the list from the other side. So I’m thinking, you know, hey! It couldn’t hurt.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] This is just a list that Verne put together, but I guess-
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] You have a condensed data set, we can make it bigger.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I see, you’re pulling data from all known sources and public sources about all the people; I’m just going to give you the list, because it seems like you know what you’re talking about and Artemis does.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Artemis is freaking me out, man. It’s good to see you.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Well I’ll give this to you. [ OOC ] He downloads this, it’s about four
kilobytes.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] It’s a text file!
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] It’s a text file with about five names and addresses, and about a dozen and a half anonymized medical data information.
[00:30:39] > Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] It appears in the newspaper, and T.K. says to Artemis, [ IC ] Artemis, before we do anything with the Accretion stuff, can you find these people and map their relationships with each other using public data?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [OOC] You look down at the digital representation of the list, and it’s done. Before the last phoneme is out of your mouth, it’s done.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. points at the mirror behind the bar and says, [ IC ] Luxe do you see what I’m saying, do you see why she’s-
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] A map shows up in the mirror [ ping ] and it’s the tri-state area and there are little pins in five different places and they all have names next to them, almost all of them before their titles, before their ranks, it says Fmr., but there is one in the financial district that does not.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] And what name is that?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] That name is Tariq Djabala.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Artemis, all of these are former except for one? Can I have more information on the one?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Simply click on the name you’d like to learn more about. > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Why do I have to click?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] When you select the name, you get an employee record that hasn’t been updated in three years, for an accountant. It looks like Tariq Djabala was an accountant for the NYPD.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Artemis ] [ undubbed by Molly ] T.K., I do not think this list of names is the drummer we are after.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] No, this is more of a triangle. It’s an accompaniment accoutrement, sort of like grace notes. Part of the melody, part of the symphony for sure, but smaller part.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] T.K. did you give her all of the login data for that hacker’s forum, I’m sure that that hacker plus all of the hackers they were connected to, friends with, et cetera interact with on the forum could be a good list for Artemis to have.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, I got excited by the blockchain stuff because it’s public and there’s 14 million, she agrees it’s an outlier, right Artemis?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Far out.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Do you see what I mean Luxe? It’s a little weird. It’s not bad!
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I like her!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay, Artemis, Luxe reminded me there’s more data here.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] There is an enormous, likely meaningful overlap in the data from the blockchain and the forum account of which you speak.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] So you already did that, okay. [ OOC ] T.K. comms Lash, [ IC ] Lash?
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Lash shows up, [ IC, digitally distorted ] Woah! [ OOC ] And she’s like hold on, she’s messaging to Viv like, [ IC ] You’ve got to take a left in the virtual world, you’re almost there.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Ah, hold on, I still have to put my krill away for a moment.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Hold on, hold on, I don’t want Viv to miss anything. Viv?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] A big question mark pops up in front of you.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Oh, I like what you did with the place Artemis.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] The gang’s all here. Artemis- you guys, she’s [ awestruck stuttering ] I don’t know how to say it, but I feel like I’m interacting with the 20th century conception of God?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Flattering.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Ok, so that data you got, she has it. It’s going to take four days, even
with all of this, to process the Accretion data, but I wonder, can we process the forum data first? > Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] What would you like to know about the forums?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I’m glad you guys are here, because holy shit, it was getting to be a lot, just me and- [ interrupting ]
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] It was already a lot to take in from Farou!
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Many of these accounts appear to be bots, or sock puppets.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] That’s good!
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Oh, little fake accounts, huh?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Wait, ok, can you unmute the saxophone player? [ saxophone begins ]
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Oh no, why?? [ Shannon laughs ] Why would you do that?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] It’s important, it’s a metaphor, it’s important, I’ll explain later. Can you dub in whatever instrument you think the surface level data is, whatever you just processed?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Yes.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC ] You hear- don’t cut this out- cut, whatever I’m saying, but
put in a slide whistle [ slide whistle meanders ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Does that sound like it matches?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] No.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] But do you think that it possibly could?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] You’re the one who picks the music in Henley.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I’m asking genuinely because what you’re hearing is data. [ laughs ] If there’s a relationship, we’re going to let Artemis spend four days doing it.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] I see.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think it fits; the slide whistle?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Artemis, do we have this hacker’s log in? What is his name? > Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Oh, his name is Farou.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yeah. You have Farou’s login data, can you check all his activity including collaboration with other hackers on this forum, I’m sure that if they had to collaborate they would be sharing bits of code back and forth to each other, editing it. Are there other external links that they have amongst themselves to databases that they use, things like this. We’re working under the assumption, Artemis, that the person involved in covering up this code may not be actually working with the Last Line, but they’re connected somehow, maybe sharing resources especially when it comes to very niche types of extreme computer coding, hacking, et cetera.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] The question is, are these data sets random, or are they not? If they are not, are they perhaps patterned in the same way; or if they’re random, in which way are they random? If I know these things, I may be able to hazard a guess at their source.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] What do you all propose that we do for four days?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] First of all, we haven’t decided if we’re going to do it yet, because we have to ask Odina if we can use her computer for four fucking days. I assume this is going to take up all of its resources?
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Yes.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, okay so, that’s task number one. Luxe, do you want to take care
of that? Because I can delegate.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Ask Odina if we can use her computer for four days? > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yes. Not use, monopolize.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Totally take it, yes, I’ll ask her. [ OOC ] Luxe says, [ IC ] Do you need me for anything else, I can go do that now? [ pause ] I’ll listen to the rest, sorry, continue.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, no, it’s cool, you don’t have to, that was as far as I’ve got. I mean, we’ve got the data, we need to find the relationship with the data. We do have a secondary task, right, cause you gave us the names, and, [ OOC ] he points to the bar mirror, [ IC ] There all there right? These EVO-modified people. So we do have one name who is not a former cop, we do have his address.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] I hate to interrupt.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC ] And you see a fox and a rabbit run down the bar and knock over everybody’s glass boot of grappa, and as they do so, Artemis draws a bow and arrow from behind her back and two large hounds raise their heads next to her. [ awed whispers ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh, so that’s why they call you- [ OOC ] And T.K. just stops. > Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Beautiful.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Yes or no? Am I allowed to hunt, or shall I work on getting you more free streaming channels for the next four days?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] In this particular metaphor, what is “hunting?”
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] Shall I get to computing or not?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh yeah no, go ahead, we’ll ask for forgiveness.
> Molly / "Artemis": [ IC ] The hunt begins. [ an arrow releases from a bow ]
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC ] And you are booted out of the matrix. [ Apple quit noise ] > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Ow! I told you, lots of stuff going on. That was intense!
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] It is bright in here; it is hot. It is warmer in this room than it has ever been.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] Viv takes off her conch shell from her head. [ IC ] She’s a new woman!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] She’s a woman!
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Oh, Odina.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You turn around and you say Odina, when you turn around, her and Thistle are up against the wall that is to the left when you walk into the server room. Thistle is
looking at a floating AR display, but Odina is just watching all of you. When you turn to her and say Odina, she looks at you and she says, [ IC as Odina ] What happened? You all have been standing slack jawed for several minutes, and the computers appear to be very very hard.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Odina, can you, I hope you don’t need that. > Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] Oh, it’s fine.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay, yeah, because it- [ OOC ] T.K. is just awestruck still, so he’s just trying to say stuff and he’s just waiting for someone to save him.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe steps in and he says, [ IC ] Odina, we’re gonna need Amos for four days.
[00:38:39] > Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] She looks at Thistle and you can see Thistle’s heads-up display, her little floating screen turn to what is obviously a grid of a calendar and she just highlights four days and they turn black. Odina turns to you and she says, [ IC as Odina ] That should be fine, but can you tell us what is happening?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. lights up a cigarette and says, [ IC ] Can I smoke in here? > Mike / G.M.: [ IC ] No.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I’m sorry, T.K. is going to have to smoke so that he can explain it; none of us have any idea what is going on. [ laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Thistle looks at Odina and says, [ IC as Thistle ] I gave him permission to do something stupid.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] So, as it turns out, Odina, we are cohabiting with a military-grade AI that knows everything now that I plugged it into your system. So that’s the backstory; you’ve got the backstory, the frontstory is that we are trying to find the data from the gun. We got the gun that shot the guy in your courtyard, and so we were trying to find out who may have- and we got the data from the gun because we touched the gun, it’s in a pile- I am not explaining this very well- but it’s in a pile somewhere safe, it’s going to be destroyed soon, but we have the data.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Odina reaches into one of the pockets of her long great cardigan and hands you a granola bar [ Nick chuckles ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Thank you. [ OOC ]And he shoves it in his mouth and takes it in one bite.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] He was drinking a lot; he drank a bucket of virtual grappa. I don’t know if that matters...
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Big computer does liquor.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay, thank you, basically what happened was: we got the data from the gun, we’re trying to parse through it, it’s going to take a long time because we’re looking for a signature in a bunch of randomness that we think was generated, and we need the computer because Artemis is using it, because Artemis is insane now.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] I have several questions.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think I might be able to try and answer them.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] When you say “military-grade A.I.,” who’s military?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] We don’t know. It was redacted.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] That makes me nervous.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] It’s fine. Probably.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Didn’t we have an Aztecnology ship?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Probably Aztecnology.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Best guess.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] But, our friend Gabe, really cool guy, great with music, [ Shannon laughs ] he did a lot of work and he probably made her cool, you know?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think she’s cool, she’s pretty cool. > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] So I think we’re good.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] “Your friend Gabe” made the Aztecnology military-grade A.I. “cool”?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yes.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Odina, we live on a boat, I dunno man.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] She turns to Thistle and she says, [ IC as Odina ] Could you do some amount of security checks on the Aztecnology military-grade AI? [ OOC ] Thistle nods with frustration, and she turns back to T.K. and she says [ IC as Odina ] Assuming that this passes Thistle’s security audit and there are no problems, can we keep her?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] No, maybe?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yeah, it’s an operating system, sure. > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I don’t know.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I think she likes it here.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, she really does.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] We’re gonna need her on the boat too, but-
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] With this much computing power, she might be, whoosh
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] She might be using some virtual resources for our boat so she stays smart, but I don’t think that it’s very much.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think that she really likes it here; she’s already a CHAZ person through and through.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] And she’s cool! I remember Gabe- Gabe’s cool, I’m sure he would have checked to see that she’s cool.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think so.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] T.K. would have done some security checks to make sure she was cool. > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, yeah, I did.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] She was dumb at the beginning, too. She couldn’t do anything at the beginning; even finding a song. She made it seem like I was listening; made it seem like I was listening to this really lame K-pop that’s like only 50’s doo wop stuff. [ cross talk ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think that she was making-
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Did she mess up?
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Luxe, I think that you always listened to that.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I mean, after, sure, it was an earworm.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think she was using her predictive technology to figure out what you would like.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh, well, okay.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, it was rough. Now she can insult you while she’s doing it.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] What sort of thing is Thistle finding? [ laugh ] Is there any security footage from the boat, like, just random shit that we’ve been searching?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Thistle is just listening intently, waiting to find out what she is going to have to do to make sure that this extremely powerful artificial intelligence isn’t going to just ruin this brand new organization. Odina says, [ IC as Odina ] Uhm, okay, we will take this one step at a time. We will let the process continue to run while Thistle does a security audit, could you please just send me your cool good friend Gabe-who-is-good-with-music’s comm code and we will have some questions for him.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] He’s a pretty good cook too.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] He’s excellent.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] He sounds, really sounds like a great guy. I’m excited to- > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Likes drugs.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] He would probably live here.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, honestly, we’re not moving in yet.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I am.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh, yeah, your condo.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I mean, the condo still has bathtubs in it. I am going to stay here for a few days because I have to check on all these leads. I’m actually going to meet with all these people on this list.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh, okay, we’ll probably come with you. Because my four days just freed up.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] We have four days.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] And with that Odina, we also find out some financial information
about the Last Line.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] She raises her eyebrows.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] It seems like they were raising money right on Money Pit. > Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] Yes, we do as well.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Yeah, everyone does. My mom does too. Anyway, Artemis is parsing through that data, so we should have that data as well.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] She did, after preliminary scans, say that a lot of the transactions looked inauthentic, so we’re on to something.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Odina ] So, someone is astroturfing the support for the Last Line with real money? [ OOC ] She looks very confused, she makes a face like “what?”
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Ok, so who benefits from a rogue faction of the NYPD? That’s the question that Artemis is trying to solve.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Basically, we gave her all the bad guy data, and if she can find the one bad guy who wrote the bad data on the gun.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] That’s right Luxe!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Yeah, you’re really understanding this really well, really deeply.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe is really proud.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] I feel like Luxe is maybe, correct me if I’m wrong, but does Luxe feel like he really gets computers now? Now that he’s been in one?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] That’s all he’s needed to know. There’s a newspaper in there, I knew it!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] It’s all sand baby.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] There’s a newspaper in there. You put the stuff in the newspaper and
that’s all you need to do. [ Taylor laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] There’s a lady and a map!
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] I fucking knew it-
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] As I always suspected, it would be a lady and a newspaper. [ table laughs ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] I knew that T.K. and Gabe were just full of shit in terms of all the school they had to do to learn computers. You just need to get a newspaper.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You just talk to the newspaper lady.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] So, T.K. says, [ IC ] Yo Thistle, if you get a chance to look into that process, whoo baby!
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Thistle ] Oh, don’t you worry!
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Now all of this is wonderful development, but is there something we can
do to protect Artemis?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] I think she can protect herself. At this point, like, no cyber attack can touch her. Did you see the bows and arrows?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] I did.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Thank you for the four days of computing power. Hopefully you and Artemis can coexist peacefully, because I don’t know if I can get her to leave, now that she’s tasted intelligence, or something. In the meantime: four days.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] What are we going to do?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] We have a list. Luxe has a list. Did you get all the information that
Artemis pulled up?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yes. I say that we visit these people and next of kin to these people, if necessary, to find out their accounts of what happened.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Ok, so we have a plan.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] We’re actually going to speak to them?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] With- I was going to say “force,” but I’m going to say “friendship.” > Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Are you sure? [ OOC ] And the krill starts crawling from Viv’s arms. [ IC ] I could use force!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. goes, [ IC ] Bean Boys?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Paradise, by the Bean Boys light. [ OOC ] And when Luxe says this, everyone knows this is a restaurant that they frequent. Very cozy, some of the best bean food that you’ve ever had.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Great vibes. Because it’s a different protein, it’s not soy. It’s just beans!
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] I’m gonna get a beanshake. [ laughs ] > Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] Jesus.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Yes, there are times in a team where you all are so hungry, you know what the next step is, it has to be eatings. So you just say the place and you go over there.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] So we go to BBs. [ IC ] Henley, can you take us to Bean Boys?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Henley starts to drive.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Wow, a computer that doesn’t speak to you- what a revelation!
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Ok, he drives for a few minutes. Bean Boys is entirely of your creation; where is it? And when you get there, what does it look like?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] I think, it sounds like a Lower East Side kind of thing; a tucked away spot that’s not terribly trendy but is by a lot of trendy stuff.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] There’s a little mascot to Bean Boys, and it is a little bean that’s got a newpaper cap on, so you know that he’s a little bean boy.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Yes.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] [ chants ] Shannon DM! Shannon DM! Shannon DM!
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] He’s like a little Dickensian bean boy.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] And that’s how you know, it doesn’t actually say “Bean Boys, Paradise by the Bean Boys light,” but everyone knows it’s the name.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Does the Bean Boy say “Extra, extra, bean all about it!” ?
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Yes! He can, if you ask him.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] “Extry, extry, bean all about it.”
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Now, when you say “newspaper hat,” do you mean a hat made of newspaper or a hat like a little newsie boy might wear?
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] A cap like a newsie boy.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Okay.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Is that not called a newspaper hat?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] It’s called a newsie cap.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Well, in my mind, that’s a newspaper hat.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] I call it that too.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] No, I think just give all of yourselves two Edge. [ table cheers ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Yeah, we got a good vibe. It’s also vaguely French, for whatever reason. [ accordion music starts, Taylor laughs ] Not in any way that matters.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Maybe the owner is French and so you can’t help but have a little “eau d’ France.”
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] The menu is just straight beans, no French stuff.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] Viv doesn’t say anything to anyone, she just goes up and orders and she gets a “reverse bean ball,” which is bean on the outside, rice on the inside. [ table cheers, claps ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] I like that.
[00:49:11] > Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] It’s on the secret menu.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] The menu where everything is reversed. [ table laughs]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] The severed menu.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You get a ball of spaghetti and there’s just marinara in the middle.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] That honestly sounds amazing.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Well, we love this place.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] We’re gathered, we’ve got our orders of bean, we’re all satisfied, we’re sitting in our favorite spot.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. gets a bean bowl. [ full cast ] Ay oh, beans up!
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You all sit down with your bean orders, with the intention of going
through the list of people to see who you can visit?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Yes, so, Luxe begins to describe what is on this list. Mike, can you tell us what’s on this list?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] [ laughs ] So Luxe has a list of five names, and the names have locations associated with them, and little descriptions about what their deal is. The first is a female human named Amálie Skálová. She lives in Jersey City Island, she is in her mid-30’s, she went into EVO for a torn ACL and came out a different person. The details are kind of hazy, it seems like she was very athletic, it seems like she was really strong, into fitness and then in
Verne’s notes, all it says after running, lifting, jumping, gymnastics, it says “And then,” in all caps “DOLLHOUSES.”
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Wow, complete personality change. Ok.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Next one after that is a male human named Eli Baptiste, he lives in the Upper East Side. He is in his 40’s and he went into EVO after a cruiser crash. It seems that he was a beat cop and his police cruiser crashed under, quote, “uncertain circumstances.” And the details on his personalities are that he’s a huge partier, big drinker, has a bunch of civilian review board complaints against him, excessive force violations, but after he came out of EVO, he left the force and went to go get a library sciences degree, and he lives with his mom.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Is it a common theme for all these names that they had an incident, went to EVO, they changed, and then they opted to leave the force? I mean, except for the one.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You can’t tell. I don’t think you know. At least not yet. > Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] So that was the second one.
[00:51:53] > Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Third one is one that Verne told you about. This is a woman named Avilryl Qinala, this is a woman who was a detective, she’s an elf, she’s older. She was a detective, she went in for arthritis treatment, and came out and not only had a different personality, which there aren’t a lot of notes about, she lost her magic, she is no longer magic. She lives in Chelsea. The fourth person on the list is a male troll named Paikei Tellino, he lives in Washington, Connecticut, he’s in his 70’s, he’s a former munitions expert who got desked after he had a bunch of mishaps in the field as he was getting older. He went into EVO for high blood pressure and he came out an extreme risk taker. The notes say just the phrase, “rocket water jet skiing, municipal urban brawl tryouts.” And then the fifth-
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Okay, and this is the one who is not former-
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Tariq Djabala, who lives in the Financial District, it’s just listed
accountant.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] He’s still an accountant with the NYPD?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] All it says with him, and this is the one with the least amount of information, it’s just his name and it says his address in the Financial District and then, “accountant.” There are notes underneath Tariq and Avilryl that indicate that no one has spoken to these people. It says “not interviewed.”
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] So you hear the crinkle of all of our fast food. > Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Fucking love the bean bowls here.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yeah, they’re very good.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] So Luxe, this list. What are we doing with it?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Well, I think we should follow up with these people. I think we should
start with the people who haven’t been talked to or contacted before. > Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Who’s the closest?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Tariq. I think we can talk to him. Basically, a lot of these people don’t remember what happened to them when they’re there; we’re going to see if he does. It seems he’s the person who’s had the most recent interaction with this EVO quote, unquote, care center, and basically we want to get his entire story and try to infer as much as we can about his family life, personality, history, et cetera and try to see what’s going on.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] What’s our game though? Why would he tell us anything? > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I have no idea. That’s something we need to-
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Oh, we need a cover identity.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Probably.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Might be a little intimidating if four of us show up.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] One thing I thought that a couple of you guys could do was actually, again looking into the forums. You know which forums are there now; Lash, T.K., if you could make a fake account and try to get in on the action of the Last Line?
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Oh, wait, one second, bean brain freeze!
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] They make those beans so cold for the shakes.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] So cold.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Quite thick.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] I’m actually already on the forums.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Nice!
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] What’s your username?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Don’t answer that question, Lash! Legally-
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] It’s “DoctorHacker69,” how do I not tell you that?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Lash, you can’t say your username when you’re using a fake account to gather information. Somebody could be listening!
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Yeah but-
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] The restaurant’s empty.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] It’s just us. And the beans.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] I knew you guys would appreciate the name. It’s a good name.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] It’s a perfect name.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Yeah, so I’m already at admin status for like, six of these message boards.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] You’re a mod? [ sigh ]
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] It’s pretty easy, you just gotta be cool.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] What does that mean?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] It means that Lash has a talent for message boards.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Okay, maybe we can act like we are- um, from the NYPD? > Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] Just as a health check.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I might need to go in there alone guys.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] That’s fine, just call us if you need us.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Okay yeah, just if you can call for backup. If you’re gonna be a cop, you can just call for backup, and we can just show up and he’ll be like, “why aren’t you dressed as cops,” and we’ll be like, “we’re undercover.”
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] That sounds good. Let me think- [ OOC ] And Luxe thinks. > Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] We’ll be in Henley, waiting.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] This one is the one that has the least amount of information. Which is, he’s a young guy, he lives in the Financial District.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Super part of town.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] This is a part of town that is very very nice. Very wealthy people live there, and yeah, he was/is an accountant for the NYPD. His presence on the list would indicate that something has happened to him, but that information is not made clear in the way that it is for the other people on the list.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] And he’s young.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Young guy. Okay, if Luxe looks through his file, is there anything
new in his life, is he just moved into this place, is he in a new relationship?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] He lives with his parents.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] He lives with his parents.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Used to live on his own, had his own address. Now his address is the same as his parents.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe is thinking, [ IC ] Ok, I think I’m just going to go talk to him. [ OOC ] And Luxe is, more than ever in his life, has just been totally hellbent on getting to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. I think in the past, Luxe would plan more, come up with a good story, maybe a backstory, false I.D., whatever; probably the smarter thing to do, but Luxe is just going to go and talk to this guy. And Luxe says, [ IC ] Yeah, if you guys could wait in the car, in case there’s any problems, but I’m going to go talk to this guy.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] But you haven’t finished your beanrito!
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Ah- [ OOC ] Luxe wraps it up and puts it in his pocket. [ IC ] I will finish this later. [ OOC ] And Luxe leaves the restaurant and gets in Henley to go down to Tariq’s place. [ car door opening ]
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. gets in Henley and says, [ IC ] Henley, play “cover identity music.” [ noir-ish jazz starts ]
> Shannon / "Lash": [ IC ] Ugh, I got an enemy in the forums. I gotta tell ya, I got a group of friends and some enemies.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You put the address into Henley and Henley starts to drive from the Lower East Side south to the Financial District, crossing through some of the rebuilt portions of this neighborhood, some of the places that are still being reforested, places that used to be really gross that are now being re-made, and in a lot of ways re-re-made. Now you feel like you cross a border when you get into a part of the Financial District, it’s in those small, maze-like streets that are down there; these really skinny, really meandering, tiny tiny roads, just off the edge of Water Street, around Wall Street. You’re kind of around where the P.B.A. is, around where the giant bull sculpture is, maybe a little further north, a little bit further west. It just feels like you’ve entered into a place that is beautiful on purpose. It’s just very manicured, it’s all stone, it’s all clean, there’s a lot of gold and marble detail, everything here is a doorman building and a lot of
the doors are very ornate, walking through them feels like a momentous occasion. The place the Henley drops you off is the single residential building in a five-way intersection, it’s kind of like a star of a street, the entryway of this building is on the corner of, in the corner of one of the segments made by the intersecting streets, and it’s this huge, beautiful, very shiny red door that has gold hinges, bronze handle, and a doorman in a long coat standing on the outside. [ jazz music fades and ends ]
[01:00:08] > Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe believes that this place will have extremely high security, he has a ready-made disguise that he has used through much of the drone pandemic that is good to go; he slaps it on, ready to go into the building.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] Always freaks me out when he does that.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ IC ] You know, I can’t believe we were in Bullgoose this morning.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. waits in the car; he’s still freaked out by Luxe’s transforming; it’s still weird.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Do you have a look, or are you just Luxe but slightly different?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] It’s just enough to look like a different person, it’s basically not any
special kind of different, just different.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] I’m going to say this: Luxe, canonically, is a wealthy-looking white guy. You are walking into a fancy downtown building, roll Performance and get a two or higher, and you’re just going to sail right in.
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] Let’s see.
> Shannon / "Lash": [ OOC ] Famous last words.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] I hope you critically glitch this.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] I got a nine.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] And no glitches?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] I did get two exploding sixes and that was helpful.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] The doorman as you approach, very confident, and looking like someone who comes and goes from this building a lot; [ open door sound ] the doorman just opens the door for you and doesn’t say anything to you. [ lobby music plays ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe makes his way up towards the family’s condo? Apartment? Condo?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Yeah, you take the elevator up, this place is really beautiful, decorated like downtown buildings that you see with ancient, beautiful furniture. There’s a lot of art on the walls, there’s crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, it looks the sort of place that’s been decorated to communicate that rich people live here. You take an elevator up, it opens to a long hallway, you get to the number that is written on the information, it’s a dark blue door and there’s a doorbell on the side.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] And what are the parent’s names?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] Hari, H-A-R-I, and Deeta.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] Von teese?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] [ laughs ] Yeah, no, not her.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Hari and Deeta, and then it’s Tariq, right?
> Jenn / "Viv": [ OOC ] Yeah.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Ok, he rings the bell. [ chimes ] Luxe even to the point where he touches this button, has no idea what he’s going to say.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] The door swings open and a very well put together and well dressed woman, somewhere over the age of 60, big brown eyes, dark olive skin looking at you. [ IC as Deeta ] Well, where’s the food?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] [ laughs ] Luxe laughs. And he says, [ IC ] I’m sorry, is this Deeta?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Yes.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Hi Deeta, my name is Silas Roalds.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] The restaurant’s never sent anyone who told me his name before. [ table laughs ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I’m not here with the restaurant.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] That’s a relief, I like that place, and if they sent me
you, I’d never call them again.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I wouldn’t either, ma’am. I know nothing about food.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Well what do you want, Silas?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I’m actually here on a matter of your son’s health. May I come in?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Are you from EVO? > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I am not from EVO.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Then you may come in. You’re not- wait, wait- you’re not a journalist, are you?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I am not a journalist, okay, I try to avoid them.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Well, you look young and handsome, come in. [
Shannon laughs ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Is your son here? At the moment? [ door closes ]
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Do you not know?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I’m afraid I don’t, that’s why I’m here.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] [ sigh ] He’s always here.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] How has your son been?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] What are you doing here?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Ma’am, I’m with a consortium of people who are currently investigating EVO.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Private detective?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Nobody calls me that, but sure.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] I haven’t heard the word “consortium” in 30 years.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] [ laughs ] 30 years ago they were all the rage, we know that.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] That was the last time I met a jackass that said things like “consortium.”
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Sure, I just want to relay to you how sensitive the subject is, and the security about this subject is; that’s why I’m here in person. Anything that you say to me, or at all, should never be relayed virtually, digitally, at all. Does that make sense?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Somebody’s gotta be bankrolling you, who is it? > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] My wife is dead. I am not doing this for money. I believe EVO is involved. We believe that your son is in danger because of his contact with EVO. I’d like to talk to you and to your son about his experience in their quote, unquote, “care center.”
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Well, you certainly haven’t found a coven of friends of EVO here, although I don’t imagine it can get much worse for my boy. Tariq! [ OOC ] You can hear Tariq approaching before you see him. [ gasps ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You’re standing at the front of a large hallway, there’s a very beautiful parquet floor, is that what you call them when it’s all of the wood that’s patterned. And there’s side tables and you can hear light kitchen sounds from the distance. It’s this long white hallway, beautiful floors, molding, and at the end, you know you’re looking at the living room and you can see windows that you’re looking out onto the water, and while you were talking to Deeta, you vaguely registered that what was behind her at the end of the hallway was furniture, like there’s a table, there’s some chairs, there’s an easy chair, there’s stuff in there. When she calls out to Tariq, you hear the sounds of motors grinding, the sound of big servos making motions, and you see one of the pieces of furniture start to move, and what you realize is that it wasn’t a chair, or a table that you were looking at out of the corner of your eye, it was a person reclining in a exoskeleton that has almost kickstands on the back and it sort of vaults this person up so that they are standing, and in this very halted rhythmic motion, walks them forward and you see ostensibly, what is probably Tariq, guy in his early 20’s, dark skin like his mom, slicked to the side hair, very manicured, he’s got a very thin, very expertly shaven beard, he's wearing all white, but he has this very blank stare and this machine is walking him towards you, step by step. And he’s in this thing, and he’s maybe seven, seven and a half feet tall, in this frame, and you hear little comm noises coming from Deeta’s comm. [ comm chimes ]
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Have you read his file yet?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I know very little.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Do you know what happened to him?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I really really- I need to hear what happened.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] [ sigh ] Tariq liked to go on his little adventures, didn’t you Tariq?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You hear more little comm noises come from Deeta’s person. [ several chimes in a row ]
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] He was on the West Coast in Victoria, going on a- what do you call them- Tariq, what do you call them? [ OOC ] She looks at her phone. [ IC as Deeta ] [ comm chime ] Safari! A safari. He was going on safari to see awakened beasts on Victoria Island. Got the Mu Flu. [ servo rest ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh. [ OOC ] Would I know what that is?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Yeah, you could put it in the same category as the avian flu. It was a thing that hurt a lot of people, killed a good number of people, probably five or six years ago, but never made its way to New York.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Alright, ok, so he got some sort of bovine flu?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Not bovine, it was greek alphabet letter. The mu
flu.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t read much about it.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] You don’t strike me as a big reader, Silas.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No, I don’t know much about this particular one, even though I thought I did.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Well, it was going to be a moderate case, and he was moonlighting as an accountant for the NYPD Incorporated, so of course they sent him over to EVO, where treatment would be free. Didn’t want to come running home to mommy and daddy and ask for family doctors! Too high and mighty for that. [ comm chimes ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Did he have symptoms? What were his symptoms, I should say, when he went to EVO.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Not symptomatic. > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Oh, he just tested positive for-
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ OOC ] [ interrupting ] She leans in close to you, you can see that her skin, which has had the most expensive, top of the line moisturizer applied to it twice daily for decades now, you see the creases under her eyes. She says, [ IC as Deeta ] He was just supposed to go in for some tests.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] What happened?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Three days later he walked out of there, [ scoffs ]
that thing walked him out of there. Couldn’t walk, talk, or feed himself.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Could you describe what this is? [ OOC ] I’m picturing just a mech-suit, is that what it is?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Pretty close, yeah. Just smaller. It’s definitely a portable assistive device.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Like the Iron Man suit if it was for medical reason. But not cool and maybe bigger?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] [ laughs ] He’s, it’s sort of more around him than it’s something that he is in; if that makes sense.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] EVO just said it was complications. > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Unchanged, in any way?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Other than he can’t walk, talk, or feed himself, Silas? Why don’t you ask him. I’ll leave you two alone. You can pair your phone with his suit if you wave your phone over the logo.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe assumes she’s talking about his comm, he takes his comm and pairs it with the device.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Yeah he’s, he saw you talking to his mom, and after she started giving him a hard time for going to the safari, he walked himself back to the living room and put his frame back to sitting mode essentially. You walk down the hallway, past the kitchen on the left, and you see this beautiful white tile kitchen and there’s dad with his gray hair, making something. He doesn’t look at you, doesn’t say anything, Deeta starts to talk to him quietly. You walk into the living room, there’s these massive, huge, all of these beautiful windows looking out onto the water, you can see the Statue of Liberty, and he’s just there. You pass you comm in front of this little badge on the frame, says EVO on it, your comm dings [ pairing noise ] essentially a chat window opens up, and doesn’t seem like his eyes really move, so he’s looking straight ahead the whole time. But you can see he’s breathing, you can probably see little muscle twitches here and there, but he’s just kind of in this thing. When the chat window opens up, you can see it just, little spin, little dots, then he just says, [ IC as Tariq ] Hi. [ message noise ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Hi Tariq, can you hear me? [ OOC ] He doesn’t write this, he just says it.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Tariq writes, [ IC as Tariq ] Yeah. [ message noise ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Tariq, I understand that you’ve been through a lot-
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] He writes, [ IC as Tariq ] lol. [ message noise ]
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] If you need to be brief, I understand, or if you can’t talk about it, I also understand.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] There’s more typing and more typing and you get a longer than usual thing and it says, [ IC as Tariq ] You know what the worst part about this is?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] What is that?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] People pretending that they feel bad for you.
[01:12:43] > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I hear ya. I actually do, but I hear ya. What happened? At EVO? Do you remember anything?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] No.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] What do you remember after you came home from safari?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] There’s typing, there’s typing, and then you get a little text that is essentially what his mom gave you, [ IC as Tariq ] Got sick on safari, went to EVO to make sure there was nothing I could do, they said I needed tests. They kept me for three days, I woke up like this.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Have you seen other doctors since?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] He writes, [ IC as Tariq ] lol [ OOC ] again.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] So you have. Have they described to you in any detail what has been done to you?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] With five quote marks on either side of this phrase, [ IC as Tariq ] “””””severe neurological damage”””””
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I see.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] In all caps, [ IC as Tariq ] WHO are you?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I’m with a group of people that is going to make EVO pay for what they’re doing to people.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] People?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] You’re not the only one.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] In all caps, [ IC as Tariq ] WHAT?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Everything that we talk about now has to be anonymous, you are connected to a device created by EVO. I cannot share a lot of detail. I hope you understand that. Any detail you have for me can help put this right and stop them from doing what they’re doing.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] With, you can tell, it takes a lot of effort, he sort of tic by tic, he moves his eyes to the left to look at you. And he sends a message that just says, [ IC as Tariq ] What?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I’m going to assume that you didn’t understand what I said; I can’t tell you details about others, or about what I know or about who I am, because of your connection to EVO. What I am telling you is something I don’t mind them hearing. That they’re going to pay
for what they did to you and to all the others. Any detail you can give me now, they already know, obviously, but will help get back at them. If you don’t believe me, that’s fine.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] Sends a message that says, [ IC as Tariq ] But what do you want? > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Did you do anything to upset EVO in any way?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] In all caps, [ IC as Tariq ] NO, I don’t think so.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Do you remember all of your dealings with EVO or are there any memory gaps that you have from your time working with EVO, or- working with the NYPD. Sorry, obviously you weren’t working with EVO.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] No.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Do you remember every moment, or, within reason, of working as an
accountant with the NYPD?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] [ laughs ] What, do you have photographic memory or something?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] I do. [ table laughs ]
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] There’s a bunch of typing, and then it stops typing, and then a bunch of typing, and then it stops typing, and then he just sends a message in all lower case, that says [ IC as Tariq ] yeah ? [ OOC ] With a question mark.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Did you find anything at the NYPD that you maybe shouldn’t have? In your accounting role.
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] Pretty sure everyone does.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Okay. It will be tricky for you to share with me exactly what it is. My
sources say that you’re still connected to the NYPD, is this true?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] Sorta.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Can you explain your current relationship with the NYPD?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] I’m a charity case. They feel bad firing me.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Ah, I see. You have connections with anyone at the NYPD that would have any reasons to want you removed?
> Mike / G.M.: [ IC as Tariq ] No?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe is just looking around at the apartment. [ IC ] What about your parents?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] You hear a ringing sound coming from the kitchen. [ comm chime ] > Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Everything alright in there?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yeah, everything is fine!
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] How long has he been in there?
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] 25 minutes?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. looks at Viv and Lash and says, [ IC ] Think he needs help?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] No, he would have commed us if he needed us.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ IC ] We should comm him though, right?
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] I can’t do what he does. I’m not worried. You want to check on him?
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] T.K. dashes off a message that says, [ IC ] Luxe, if you’re ok, press one; if you’re not, press two.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe presses one. Although he doesn’t know how he got this program on his comm that allows him to press one.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] It’s a standard feature on all comms.
> Bijan / "T.K.": [ OOC ] It just texts back one. [ comm ping ] [ IC ] He said one. I think we
can stay here.
> Jenn / “Viv”: [ IC ] You see?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Deeta, the problem that I’m facing right now is motivation on EVO’s end. Of course, your son could just be a random person they’re conducting experiments on, that’s just the bas assumption.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] What kind of experiments?
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No idea. Obviously ones that have to do with people’s brains. But, some cases, it is possible they’re intentionally trying to remove some people from the force. Is there any reason that the NYPD or EVO would have any problem with you or your husband or your son?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] EVO said it was “extreme and unusual complications from the mu flu.”
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] That they had to put wires in your son’s brain?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] They said it’s a strange disease and that things got complicated, a little known, poorly understood disease, even now there’s not a ton of academic research on it. We couldn’t prove in court that EVO had done anything wrong.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] So they need consent in order to do procedures like this. Was there any signatory from you, your husband, your son?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] He went into the hospital and then three days later they said some strange complication paralyzed him. No one can do anything about it! It’s not their fault, it’s not our fault, it’s not his fault. Even the little magical virus, just doing its job.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Luxe has no idea what to do. He’s. [ IC ] What do you and your husband do?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] You can just search it. > Nick / "Luxe": [ OOC ] Yeah, Luxe searches it.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] I’ll save your time. It’s the standard arrangement. Hari’s in finance and I’m on several boards of charitable organizations.
[01:19:09] > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Has your son’s memory been affected in any way, other than the blackout period of those three days? Have you talked to him, asked him about it?
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Obviously his memory has been affected by the event that caused the paralysis, but no, before he went into EVO he was completely fine, if a bit of a loose cannon. But that’s Tariq.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] No memory gaps though from any time before that.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] No.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Okay. [ OOC ] Luxe is very distressed because it doesn’t match the MO of some of the other files. He thought that there would be other personality differences other than the simple physical; he thought there would be more. He needed there to be more, he wanted there to be more, he wanted all of this to be solved by talking to these people and he realizes that this is going be a lot harder than he thought And he thanks, [ IC ] Deeta, I really appreciate your help, I will be in contact with you, unfortunately by coming to your door, in the future if anything is uncovered, that can help you, your family, your son, and help bring those who did this to justice. [ OOC ] And he turns to Tariq and says, [ IC ] Tariq, thank you so much for your help. Just so you know, I don’t want to feel bad for you, I just want to help. I would like for there
to be a way to talk to you without this device present. I’m gonna talk to other people about the possibility of that, and I’ll get back to you if it is possible.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] He sends you a peace sign emoji. [ comm ping ]
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] He can’t jack in because of his, you know, brain
being destroyed by a mystery event.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Ma’am, if you don’t want to share this, that’s fine, but it could help us if you have any medical documentation from other doctors about what exactly happened to your son, scans, x-rays, anything that can be shared- here’s my information. [ OOC ] And he’s got a duped comm place for her to contact. [ IC ] Anything could be dropped here anonymously, and it could help us a lot. I won’t take up any more of your time, I hope your food gets here soon. I’ll show myself out.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] No you won’t, I’ll show you outside.
> Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Okay, thank you. [ Bijan laughs ]
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] Can I give you some advice before you go? > Nick / "Luxe": [ IC ] Yes, please.
> Taylor / "The Bad Boys": [ IC as Deeta ] You know, it used to be people would go into fancy houses with big rooms and stained glass, and they’d scream up at the sky, at the people who they thought were in charge, “please, help me out, don’t let me be sick! Fix everything that’s wrong!” [ door opens ] Never worked. It still doesn’t. Goodbye Silas. [ OOC ] And the door shuts.
> Mike / G.M.: [ OOC ] As you’re standing there, your chat with Tariq dings one more time. [ comm chimes ] It says, [ IC as Tariq ] Good luck taking down EVO. lol.
[01:22:01] [ Main Theme begins ]
> Mike / G.M.: You are now leaving Fun City. Thanks for listening. And welcome to all of our new listeners. We don’t always know exactly where you come from, but it’s nice to have you here. If you want to support the show and get access to our bonus chat show Fun Chatty, our discord full of very smart and very friendly nerds where we are currently reading through Gene Wolfe’s scifi fantasy epic The Book of the New Sun, our Mörk Borg side games, of which we just released the third installment and more, it really is an amazing deal folks, and you’d be silly to pass it up, you can head on over to patreon.com/FunCityVentures. And of course, thanks to all of our current patrons for help keeping this ship afloat.
[ Main Theme ends ]
[ Outro Theme begins ]
> Bijan: I am Bijan Stephen, and you can find me online @bijanstephen on Twitter and Twitch. On Instagram, I’m @bijancakes. B-I-J-A-N-cakes
> Jenn: I’m Jenn de la Vega, I play Vivian Lakewood, and you can find me online @randwiches > Nick: Hey this is Nick Guercio, I play Luxe Scythe, and you can find me online @nguercio
G-U-E-R-C-I-O, on Instagram, and @nicholasguercio at Twitter.
> Shannon: This is Shannon Odell, I play Lash Goodbog. You can find me on social media @shodell, S-H-O-D-E-L-L.
> Taylor: This is Taylor Moore and I play all the Bad Guys, I think? Is that how it works? It’s not clear. You can follow me online @taylordotbiz.
> Mike: My name is Mike Rugnetta, I am your G.M. You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch and YouTube @mikerugnetta.
You can find the show on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @FunCityVentures. This episode of Fun City was recorded in Taylor’s kitchen in beautiful Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. It was edited by Sam Grant, produced by Taylor and sound designed by me, Mike Rugnetta. Pixlriffs had a very reasonable amount of virtual grappa. Fun City's music is by Sam Tyndall, with tracks by Will Savino. Our art is by Tess Stone, our Discord mods are Olivia Gulin, Kelly McKew, and Kit Pulliam, and the voice of Artemis is Molly Templeton.
[01:24:11] [ Outro Theme concludes ]
[ Transcription by Kelly McKew, @kellymckelly on Twitter ]