Dispatches From Xi — Days 24-28
by KrazyFace, HSM team writer
Entry: Day 24
The supposed bomb we discovered yesterday is becoming somewhat problematic. Axiom have been scanning the Continuum in a bid to trace the rogue code in an effort to terminate its threat, but what they found instead is what can only be described as a countdown timer. Xoff are also working on it and estimate a three-day delay before the bomb eventually finds it’s ‘zero point’, and the Continuum is lost to all of us. Xoff have cheerfully installed a kind of ‘death clock’ within Axiom’s HQ.
The urgency has found Axiom asking me to pick up the pace in my search for EFD, but since AS-0 are not around to ask nicely for another entry into EFD’s firewall protected area of the Continuum, I was asked to break in myself.
As it happens, I was right about the Bully Drones carrying an encryption key for access all areas. I hate being right; today I was tasked with bringing a Drone down in face-to-face combat. Luckily Axiom were one step ahead and had been filling a margin of the Continuum with crud-data, swamping the Bully Drone’s A.I. and making them docile enough that I just might win a fight against one. I must say, I didn’t hold out much hope for this one, but again with my stellar team we managed to claim another victory and get what we wanted from the Drone.
Once I’d obtained the passcodes and slipped past the firewall I found a dismantled bomb in an alleyway – possibly my bomb from my personal space that had recently gone missing! I couldn’t tell for certain, since every agent called into the Continuum was issued one days ago, but regardless of who it belonged to, it meant EFD had been playing with some very dangerous toys.
On another note I went back to visit Stapler again today. I feel a little attachment to him since my first days of Xi and the early years – he was always good for a light hearted chuckle, and never failed to put smiles on the faces of the other recruits. But whatever has happened to him, he looks in really bad shape. I found him crawling around the carpark barking insults at anything that moved. I wish I could help him, I just don’t have the skills needed to do anything for him, all I can do is watch him deteriorate. Why isn’t Jess helping him?
NB: There have been strange sightings of odd numerical totems appearing throughout the Continuum, what they do or who they’re for remains a mystery at the present time.
Entry: Day 25
I had a feeling I knew what they were for, and it seems I was right. The strange numerical totems I mentioned yesterday are HAZCON warning systems, obviously for the impending bomb we’re dealing with right now — which we are currently combating with strategically-placed aerials that emit a blocking radio frequency, effectively suffocating the bomb’s countdown timer to slow it down, or maybe even stop it completely.
I spent the day locating the best areas of the Continuum to position the aerials; Jess tells me we’ve got a good coverage, but there’s been no word on how much it has slowed the bomb’s timer yet.
I’ve been following the AS-0’s lately, too; it seems they feel safe enough talking to each other on their little-known web site aszero.com and have been having a laugh at Axiom and its agents as we figure things out. It’s a shame they are not displaying the same humility that other agents of Axiom have, since it’s my consideration they’ll be laughing on the other side of their face soon enough. From what I can tell, Meryl has officially left the group, and the other Zeros seem rather quick to affront her – a shameful display for one’s own I must say. Having said all this, they’re a shrewd group, and all of this might just be a gambit to make Axiom believe they’re close to disbanding.
I’ve heard rumor that what I thought was a broken Stapler might just be a Simulacrum, coded by the Zeros. But why exactly? Is this some kind of strange, twisted joke to insult or aggravate the last remaining members of the original Xi, or is there something more to it? A message, perhaps? Whatever their reasons for doing this, I have more pressing matters to attend — namely, the Continuum Bomb. I’m afraid a re-coded, smashed up clone will have to wait until our more serious problems are resolved.
Entry: Day 26
I’ve been told the countdown sequencer for the Continuum’s bomb situation has discovered five of the digits thus far. We do not have much time left to find and diffuse the bomb now – roughly one Continuum day, five hours and 30 minutes.
Oddly, though, Axiom are issuing us with ridiculously old-fashioned ideas on how to “stay safe,” such as taking cover under cushions, wearing more layers of clothing or holding a chair over our heads! If I didn’t know any better I’d say they were not as serious about all this as they could be – or maybe they just don’t care about us?
Are we all (as agents of Axiom) just expendable bodies, then?
HAZCON warning systems have been set to HAZCON 2 – one away from imminent destruction. All warning systems throughout the Continuum are currently displaying this message, and I have not received any orders to track down and neutralize this threat. A worrying situation, to say the least. The fact that AS-0 are also posting silly cartoons of where and what the bomb might be is just as unsettling. Or, just maybe, I’m too far down the food chain in all of this to be told what’s really going on. If AS-0 want us out the Continuum so badly, and Axiom want to find out what they can about the place, why is everyone making jokes about the place being destroyed?
The only thing left I felt I could do is go back out into the Continuum and look around myself, maybe to find some leads on what’s really going on here. When I got to Stapler’s position again it seemed this was the first of Jess noticing. I’m not sure what she’s been doing to keep her so busy not to notice him until now, but she seemed genuinely concerned. I’m still pretty sure it’s just a copy of him, though, but didn’t get time to mention this to Jess. We’ll see if Axiom take any further action with him.
Entry: Day 27
It seems Axiom’s faith in the signal jammers I erected a few days ago was much more solid than I expected. The aerials have jammed the signal so well it has been slowed to a full-stop, and with halfway to go at that. All warning systems have been reset to HAZCON 4 for the time being.
Jess seems to have taken Stapler’s discovery to heart, as well; this morning I received an email in my Primer from her, voicing her concerns about him and the state he’s been reduced to. She also found a way to fix him; by going to the Xoff Cola website I could access a hack route to him. It didn’t take very long; I managed to get past all the firewalls that had been put in there to stop me rather quickly. As I was doing so however I noticed a rather worrying coincidence – each hack seemed to turn out specific kinds of names; Greek gods.
Dione – The mother of Aphrodite
Hestia – The virgin goddess of health, architecture and domesticity
Artemis – The Goddess of the hunt, wild animals and wilderness
All of this pointed to one thing – that this was the work of Tiberius, the apparent leader of AS-0. I headed out to get to Stapler as fast as I could. Just as I approached him I received a message from Jess: it seems the Divine Zeros were using our beloved Stapler as a form of revenge on what Axiom did to MerylSilvertongue, and had turned him into the bomb itself! A dirty trick indeed, and gladly I’ve halted the process for the time being, but it means we’ll now have to be extra careful with our next steps if we are to defuse this bomb successfully and save Stapler in the process.
Entry: Day 28
Since the events of yesterday and the discovery of where the bomb to destroy the Continuum is (inside the simulacrum of Stapler) Axiom have been going over their findings thus far. Despite the fact we found a dismantled bomb inside EFD’s hideout within the Continuum, the one that’s been planted inside Stapler is far more complex than the one with which EFD had been found tinkering with, which makes it unlikely that this is any of EFD’s handy work. Given that we now know that N.E.R.D.I.C.A. was the one who made Stapler’s simulacrum – Bad Stapler – and that so far all EFD has done is shout threats at us, coupled with the hidden Greek god names found within the firewalls of Stapler, points to this being all AS-0’s doing.
Jess has also left a video for EFD to intercept within our Primer Video Log. In it she basically calls her out, claiming the bomb that we’re dealing with right now is far too cleverly made for it be anything to do with EFD or her gang. And if I don’t mind saying – off the record of course – Jess is rather attractive when she’s being mean!
Axiom have their work cut-out for them in the remaining days; although the bomb threat has been put on hold for now, it is still a danger to us and the Continuum itself. I do not have access or the proper knowledge to be able to deal with it personally, so all I can do is wait along with all the other Axiom agents in the hope someone within Axiom are already working on the solution.
January 8th, 2013 by KrazyFace | 2 comments
KrazyFace has been a gamer for longer than he can remember. In fact its been so long he's pretty sure he started gaming with rocks and sticks in a cave someplace off the coast of Africa, when it was joined on to France. However long its been, he's got enough experience behind him to know a good game when he sees one. He's also a bit of a Home addict, you'll find him in there whenever he's got spare time - or not playing a game.
Twitter
Well written KrazyFace, but I have one comment. You state that the use of greek god names in the codebreaking as pointing towards Tiberius. However, Tiberius is a roman name, not a greek name. I would lean more towards Malachi (Niko Iliopoulis from Athens, Greece) of the Hole in the Forewall Gang. What do you think?
Hmmm, that’s good logic there. I’ll have to look deep into Niko IIiopoulis’ history then, see if there’s some strong connections there or any kind of hint towards the Xi C universe. Thanks for pointing that out Bob.