| Logs |
2002 February 25
| Cosmic Guardians |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
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| Realms: Guardians Logs |
The First Mission - Part 3
Cosmic Guardians:The Double-Edged SwordPart 3: Clues and Confrontations
Sasha gets everyone squared away, making a special point of strapping Bookworm in snugly. Lupis stores his guitar in the back and then gets on his motorcycle, while Reynard and Nikki make themselves comfortable in the white van. It's not an old-style van, with nothing but space in the back, but one with plenty of seating. Sasha gets into the front seat, signals Lupis, and then the 'wagon train', so to speak, is off.
Reynard adjusts himself in, and settles back. He offers a quiet sigh, peering out the window for a moment, remembering long truckrides to this base or that base. Memories. "Any idea what we're going to do, exactly, when we get to the college?"
Nikki stretches out in the middle seat, not paying any particular attention to safety. "I don't know...maybe make another attempt at enrolling?"
The bounty hunter watches his ghost comrade with a chuckle. Then he tips his head. "Can you do it, from here? Or do you need to be plugged in?"
Sasha smiles a little. "There are any number of avenues we might try, in seeking out this hacker...enrolling is a possibility, but we should consider, as I mentioned earlier, that being members of the school would curtail our freedom, not to mention attract attention since we'd be coming in in the middle of a semester." She looks at Nikki. "Are you any good at forging fake IDs?"
Nikki shakes her head. "Just digital IDs...nothing like cards or anything. I was thinking we only had to trick the school computer enough to get us enrolled without actually taking any classes...then we could use the ID to get around if we needed to."
Sasha nods, considering it. "That's certainly possible...create fake information in the computer, and then use the school's own equipment to make the ID. Certainly, that would work. Provided no one looked too closely.
Reynard glances back over to Nikki. "Why not try to slip in, now? We have little things else to do, important, at the moment. Or, at the very least, find some suitable Latin to English translator sites online, and simply translate our mysterious calling card, hm?"
Nikki hmms. "You want to do that Latin thing first? I don't want to poke around the school too close in time to my last attempt." She gestures at the bag. "You can get Gorgon out. I'll tell him not to bite." She grins.
Reynard arches a brow. "Now now, nothing wrong with biting." He returns the grin, and fetches the bag, stowed quite carefully, strapped in. Bringing the bag up to the woman's seat, the hunter peers curiously at Nikki. "So, what's it like?"
Nikki solidifies and leans down to take the computer out, flipping it open and setting it on her lap. "What's what like? Gorgon? Find me resources for translating old Latin to English."
Gorgon comes up on the screen. "Cogito ergo sum!" he pauses. "At least, I *think* I cogito. Never mind." Nikki laughs.
Reynard chuckles at the bull, before looking back to the ghost. "Death. Er, being dead." Settling back against the window, "I always thought the afterlife was like a concert, ya? The better you were, the better the music is. So you could end up in a crampt little stadium, surrounded by smelly, ignorant louts, while listenin' to polka."
Nikki grins wryly. "I'm dead...but I'm not in the afterlife...I guess. I've got...things to see...a particular someone to kill."
Reynard ahs, nodding his head. "So it's more like a 'middlelife', eh? And, who's this chap you're looking to splatter?"
Gorgon's voice comes up briefly. "Here y' are." he says in an Australian accent, and...Babelfish comes up. Nikki's expression grows serious. "He killed my brother..." She looks at the computer. "Uhm...let's translate those latin words we found, okay?" Gorgon rolls his eyes. "oh, what, ahm supposed t' remember *everythin* yew blokes say naew."
Reynard's grin dissolves. He nods, then. "Sure thing. Let's find out what the cocky computer rogue's left us."
Nikki says, "It's in your protected data transfer area." Gorgon looks abashed. "Oh. Right. uhm..hold on." The translations come up a moment later. Durandan does come back as 'inflexible', as Lupis said. 'short sword' appears to be the preferred translation for Courtain. And for Sauviagne...the definition appears to be 'relentless'.
Nikki hmms at the screen. "Maybe he's leaving a little clue as to how he cracked us." Reynard scratches his chin "Or why," he points out. "Relentless... Maybe the bugger has an itch against the UA."
Nikki says, "He might still not understand what we are." Reynard looks skeptical. "If so, then he wouldn't have had a fight with the Minotaur. Or stolen something; he knows it exists, else he wouldn't have stomped into the maze. If nothing else, there's a Big Bloody Gibson, and it must be protecting something."
Bookworm suddenly chooses that moment to input with a non-sequitor. "Ogier." Reynard and Nikki briefly turn to look at the boy, but he doesn't seem inclined to say anything else. Reynard frowns, and runs the word over in his mind. "Ogier... Ogier... Some about, damnit..." He stares out the window. "Charlemagne, something or other..."
Nikki glances over at Bookworm curiously. "What does it mean to us, though?" Sasha calls back. "Try looking it up, maybe." Nikki nods and types it into the search. "It could come up with hundreds of hits, though..."
Reynard snaps his fingers. "Charlamagne... Charl... Charles. Charles the Great!" He turns back to Nikki. "Ask Gorgon to grab anything with direct relation between Ogier and Charles the Great? Anything that mentions them both in the same block of information."
Gorgon looks in Reynard's direction. "Y' know, I do have ears, Sunny Jim."
Nikki grins at Gorgon. "Just...run a second search with his input, Gorgy." Reynard spreads his hands, at the computer. "Hey, she holds your leash, friend." He peers up at the front of the van. "If this bares fruit, we need to get Bookworm a cookie."
Gorgon hmmms. "Okay, Ogier and Charles the Great...whoop! Okay, maybe this'll do." A new website comes up that seemed to be historical in nature on the reign of Charles the Great. Ogier, or better known as 'Ogier the Dane' was one of Charlemagne's paladins. There seems to be a lot of myth and stories about this particular fellow, that his birth was attended by fairies and he had a ring which made him young...it also mentions he had two named swords. One was Curtana, also called 'the cutter'....and Sauvagine.
Nikki blinks. "Do you think...the hacker could be Ogier? He'd have to be like a thousand years old..."
Reynard chuckles softly. "Try over two, dear. The roman empire was back before A.D." A shake of his head. "And, given that, why the 'ell would a paladin be surfing the web, stealing files? Doesn't seem too knight-ly."
Sasha hmmmms.""Actually, the Holy Roman Empire was circa 800 AD.
Reynard gives a shrug. "History wasn't my strong point; my professor had legs....Wait a second..." A thought churns in his mind. "The card was the Seven of Swords; a little thief plucking blades, right? It represents stealing something of power. On the card, is 'Cutter', and Sauvagine. If we really wanted to step out on a long limb, he could be searching for the two swords? Actually trying to steal them, like the card?"
Nikki shakes her head. "No...the message was signed Sauvagine...that wasn't on the card." Sasha nods. "The thief was stealing Curtana...or Courtain or whatever...and Durandan."
Nikki says, "Does our organization posess those artifacts? Or, like, know where they are?"
Reynard says, "So, our culprit is inflexibly relentless in stealing 'Cutter'?""
Sasha laughs. "It is my opinion that we probablu should not look to much into this literally, you two. The hacker....whoever he really is, chose the name Sauvagine for a reason. Likewise, he put on the card other names...or at least one name, at any rate...taht could be connected back to his chosen nom-de-plume. The question we must ask is, why?" Sasha smiles as she looks out at the LA traffic. "And before you ask, my chosen profession is psychologist."
Nikki hmms. "Who did this guy vanquish with the swords? Are there tales of that?"
Reynard says, "Or...maybe that our friend has found plans, perhaps for some unbreakable, unbendible weapon. Or that he's creating one. Atleast, the saying on the card is 'Inflexible', so it could mean immovable..." He shrugs helplessly. "THis is a game. He wants to play, yes? And thus, he's left a clue about Ogier's weapons; calling himself relentless, one of the weapons.""
Nikki hmms and sits back. "Can your head start to hurt from thinking too hard without enough information?" She looks at the web page some more, to see if might reveal additional insight. Unfortunately, the article itself doesn't seem to make much mention of Ogier the Dane save for a brief paragraph. It mentions the names of his horses and whatnot, and also that he was referred to in romantic literature and famous opera.
Reynard says, "Gorgon, would you care to search up anything on in reguards to great deeds of Ogier or, anything in relation to things done, credited by, or said about him?""
Gorgon grunt. "Gimmie a mo." Several seconds pass, and then several more. Finally, he reappears. "Aint much about Ogier. Best I could find was this." He opens up a website, Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It mentions a great deal of information that was already found on the website, including the name of a fable, Ogeir le Danois: a romance, and also that in the French card deck, he's represented as the Knave of Spades.
Nikki hmms. "Maybe we should stop by a library when we get there and read it? A romance could be fun." She smiles.
Reynard harbors a glance to Nikki. "I'm thinkin' there's some clue in the fable, or atleast, maybe some hidden text in the Knave of Spades, perhaps? Some inane print, legal business, that our coyote has disserned as worthy to house a clue in it."
Suddenly, an email comes in.
Nikki blinks and flicks to the mail program. "Wonder who's sending me mail...." She opens the message. It's short and to the point. "You're probably learning more about history and fable then you've ever learned in your whole life." The email is unsigned.
Reynard says, "Why am I uncomfortable with this?" Nikki's eyes widen. "Gorgon...close network and initiate system integrity test now!" Gorgon pops up and shakes his head. "I did that the second I saw who it was from, kid. He didn't hack in. He just sent the email."
Reynard says, "Who's it from? The addy, that is." Nikki just points. The header reads: sauvagine@hotmail.com
Nikki sighs. "Geez...we should use that bounce-browsing whenever we're lookin' up stuff. I had no idea he'd put feelers on those sites."
Reynard also gives a sigh. "On the bright side, we can look for someone who's looking for Us, when we get to the campus." Then he looks thoughtful again. "Maybe we could send an email back, professing it's a research paper?" Nikki shakes his head. "There's no point in subterfuge. If we respond, we're only confirming that we know what the email is, no matter how we might pretend we don't."
Gorgon affects an air of worry. "Nikki...I'm thinking maybe we should go stand-alone for a while. At least, when we don't need to be on the web." Nikki blinks. "I said close the network." Gorgon waves his hands. "I know what you said, an tis' done. Connection severed. But I mean, I think we should stay that way for a long while, till we need to open back up. I'm not eager to waltz with a fella that danced around the mighty Mino."
Nikki nods. "I agree...if I need to hack again...maybe I'll use someone else's hardware for it." Reynard says, "I don't much favor Gorgonburger, either." Gorgon puts on a cowboy hat. "Why, thank yew son. Ah don't fancy bein put on th' grill and done up on a bun meself." Nikki giggles.
Gorgon looks back at Nikki. "Y'dont need t' do that, darlin...mebbe we jus' bounce around a lot when we finally have to get back on. A little paranoia in this instance can go a long way. This fella is capable... and we don't know what rules he play by."
The sun sinks low behind the van, setting off pretty pinks and golds and oranges against the skyline. Sasha quietly manuevers the car onto the interstate. The van now free of the traffic, it picks up a little speed. Unfortunately, all electric vehicles have a build in speedlimit, so she can't go over 65.
Nikki closes the gibson down and puts him back in the bag, then settles back on the seat and seems to fade out again, the lights of the other cars visible through her if one looks hard enough. As she's doing this, Reynard reaches forward, waving his hand once more again through Nikki.
Nikki gives Reynard a glare. "Do you mind...that could be considered rude." However, she cannot prevent a smile from crossing her lips. Reynard gives a shrug, toward Nikki, grinning lightly. "I was just curious. I wouldn't think it was the equivilent of pulling an ear, or so." Settling back, "So, exactly, what is the plan, once we reach Pheonix?"
Nikki shrugs. "Go to the public library and read up on that guy and his swords." Sasha nods. "At least there, the hacker won't be able to know what we're doing." she murmurs in agreement."
"We need to worry about our little computer friend," Reynard offers, "If he's put feelers on sites, then perhaps he's watching the libraries. If nothing else, the computer systems as to who checks out what."
Nikki nods. "We don't have to check the books out, though."
Reynard arches his brow. "Is it possible that our friend could be tapping into campus security systems?"
Nikki says, "I wouldn't put it past him...but I'm not going to be showing up on any of them."
Reynard blinks. "You can hide from them? Now that's interesting..." He considers. "You know, I have a hacker friend, maybe we could use his help?"
Nikki sits up. "You do? What's his name?" Reynard says, "His handle's 'Dimbulb', you heard of it?" Nikki nods after a moment. "Yeah...bit of a troublemaker, I've heard."
Reynard gives a snicker. "When he works for me, he's discreet. Anyways, we'll need to find a phone, before I can get ahold of him."
Sasha looks back briefly. "Isn't that the guy who caused all the trouble duringf the last Super Bowl? Made a bunch or pornographic pictures appear on the displays?
Nikki laughs. "Damn, I missed that." Reynard snickers again. "Well, Dimmer does have a love of Smut sims. But if it was him..." A whistle, "I'm surprised they didn't prosecute him for that."
Nikki says, "They have to successfully tie it to him. I heard he is good."
Reynard is grinning. "That's why he works for me. Sasha, we needing to juice up any time soon?"
Sasha checks the gauge. "We're only half gone...but there'll be a refueling station about ten miles down the road...we can stop off then." She pauses, and then says, "What's the matter, don't believe in a cell phone? Or are you not supposed to call him on annything but landlines?
"I don't carry a cellphone," He answers. "And, he gets a little squirmy when someone tries to reach him on a nontracible line."
Nikki hmms. "When we stop...maybe I can convince the van to exceed it's speed limiter..." She grins.
Sasha nods. "Makes sense. Hackers tend to be a little paranoid...even miss Felder."
Reynard arches a brow. "You can hotwire it?" He inquires curiously.
Nikki nods to Sascha. "I've got good reasons to be a little paranoid." She nods to Reynard. "If it has a standard interface or if I can find a wiring diagram for a non-standard interface."
Sascha hrms. "That might actually not be a good idea...this is a rental. They might detect if you tampered with it..."
Reynard whistles. "Impressive." A nod. "Yes, Dimmer's a little paranoid bugger. So, before we call, what, exactly, do we request? The things to search down."
Nikki smiles. "Language, Reynard. There's a lady present." She gestures at Sascha.
Sasha laughs then. "A lady, am I. Never been called that before." Nikki grins and leans on the back of Sasha's seat. "Sshh...yer supposed to back me up."
Reynard says, "The only person I'm afraid of making bad impressions on is Bookworm." A grin. "I think with Lupis sniffing at Sasha's heels, she can handle her own."
"You know, that brings up an interesting point, McCarter..." Sasha drawls. "I've read the file on both you and Rodriguez. But you seem to give the lie to your reputation. Or am I just not your type?"
Nikki lifts a brow and glances at Reynard. "Maybe I should take a look at those files..."
Reynard grins at the rear view mirror. "Well, I think it's his and my approach that differs, m'dear. You see, it strikes me that Lupis thinks that getting a woman's attention is akin to hanging a picture. Hammer and nail," Fist lifting, chopping motion with his words, "Want to go out?" An imaginary bop, "Want to ride on my cycle?" Another hit, "You can feel the wind in your hair," Another. "Where as, to me, it's like building a house. You survey the land, figure the best spot to begin, draw up the plans, lay the foundation, Then start driving those nails in."
Nikki blinks, sitting back and just looking at Reynard. Sasha's eyes glint amusedly back at Reynard. "Ah, I see. So you're the more dangerous one." She then looks in Nikki's direction. "Take care around this rogue, Nikki."
Reynard eyes Nikki out of the corner of his eye. "As for you looking into my files, I wouldn't suggest it. It might be impressionable on your young ethereal mind."
Nikki grins at him. "How do you know I'm not four hundred years old, hmm?"
Reynard shrugs his shoulders. "Well, if you are, then I think more women would be offing themselves to look young and beautiful for eternity, hey?"
The bounty hunter adds, "Besides, your speech is more modern."
Nikki starts, looking like she might be angry, but settles back again, nodding quietly and looking out the window.
Sasha then mutters, "Oh my god," but it seems to be more out of mirth more than anything else. She seems to be looking at something out the side window. Reynard, not to be the only one not looking, leans against the door and peers out, himself.
Lupis appears to be in the opposite lane, an arm fatuously outstretched to Sasha. He appears to be, for lack of a better word, serenading her with some song in spanish that can now be heard over the road noises. He also appears to be blocking this fellow in a luxury car that wants to get around him, but can't.
Nikki's eyes widen and she covers her mouth, giggling. "Anyone got a camera?" Reynard's grin is near wolfish. "A better try, but me thinks he's still hitting the nail before the walls are up." Nikki hmms. "I don't know. It's kinda cute."
The man in the luxury car finally manages to get ahead of the car in the third lane, and curses at Lupis as he goes by. Lupis actually stops and swears back at the man in Spanish, Reynard recognizing it as a rather creative suggestion as to what the man can do with his car and a nether orifice. The handsome man then shrugs and offers a blown kiss as he pulls ahead of the van. Sasha giggles and shakes her head.
Reynard chuckles ruefully. "He's got a tongue on him," The hunter offers. Peering out the window, "Now, where is that refilling station? Sasha, are we there yet?" He asks, and repeats himself a few times in a rather annoying voice. One cannot have a car trip without it.
Nikki laughs and reaches over to give Reynard's hair a quick muss-up, which is an interesting feeling as she still appears to be somewhat transparent as she does it.
Sasha gives Reynard a look. "Don't make me spank you, Reynard." she chuckles. It's not far, I think. Another half-mile....ah, there's the sign. Not far at all.
Reynard snaps his head up, making bitemotions at Nikki's insolible hand, before perking at Sasha's words. "Don't make me enjoy it," He shoots back as playful.
Sasha just smiles. "Something tells me you're going to be the most adult of this crew, Nikki..." she murmurs.
Sasha signals Lupis, and he pulls over with the others as they turn into the rest stop, complete with recharger, restaurant, and bathrooms. There also appears to be more than one unoccupied payphone.
Reynard, of course, has to find himself a restroom, and then a caffinated drink, before the bounty hunter finds his way to the payphone. Nikki just stretches out on the seat and waits for everyone to get back.
Dimmer answers the phone in two rings, which is quick for him. He seems to be in a good mood as he sighs happily into the reciever. "Yello."
"Dimmer! Got another job for you. This one's a challange....and hey, you're in a good mood. What company did you crash?"
"Well now, if it isn't my favorite bounty hunter," he drawls. "And if you must know, I just crashed Penthouse. That'll teach em not to print my letters...." He sounds like he's taking a sip of something. "And of course you've got a challenge for me, Reynard. It's never not a challenge, and the reward is almost never worth the risk. Still....I'm in a good mood, and I never turn down a challenge, so...what's the score, m'man?"
Reynard chuckles softly. He doesn't state the fact that, even if Dimmer is a marvelous hacker, he writes smut letters like a trained parrot. "I'm trying to find information on an obscure clue. Aswell as that, the guy dealing out the clues is watching for people like me sniffing around on his tracks. So, you have to be careful not to set off any of his alert mines. The guy has a lot of tech on his side; the tech department of a college, infact, so be on your best behavior."
Dimmer grunts like he's interested. "Oh, a Player, huh? This guy got a name, maybe?"
"Sauvagine." He announces into the phone. "The guy's good. He's got a Gibson trained like a pitbull on stereoids. He's hacked into a very paranoid, powerful person's server, and stole something that they aren't sure what he grabbed. Left a tarot card, Seven of Swords, with 'Courtain' and 'Durandan' on the card."
"Whoa, whoa whoa, back up....you're working on the Sauvagine guy? You actually got a lead on him that you're looking for the player out of cyberspace?"
Reynard says, "Right'o. Listen, the clues are working off a guy named Ogier the Dane. But, he's got alarm mines on the sites detailing info on this."
Dimmer sounds doubtful. "Shit, man, I dunno. This one might be a little out of my league. This So-va-jean character, he's been making a name for himself. You hear what he did today?"
Reynard glances towards the little outlet, making a note to grab himself a paper or skim the headlines on the magazines, before returning to the van. "No, what?"
"Wicked, man. He actually hacked into the New York Stock Exchange and made the ticker signs start writing poetry or some shit ten minutes before the final bell rang at 4:00. No one not in the loop knows who did it, but I have it on good authority that it was this guy, this 'Sauvagine' that did it. Word is he already hosed two other players; completely fucking trashed their systems."
Reynard shakes his head. "This is nay good. So, my friend, what can you do to help me?" Dimmer seems to consider the question. "Look, man, call me back tomorrow. I got some shit that I got to take care of, but maybe I can find something out on the guy through the Hackloop. But shit, man, don't ask me to take this guy on. This is my livelihood. Some of this stuff is irre-fucking-placable, y'know?"
Reynard nods to himself. "Fair enough. I just wanted you to snoop around on the clues he's left us, more then anything, not go toe to toe with his trained gibson monkey."
"All right, man. And be careful. You're probably safer on the outside than I am running the rails, but anyone that has as much power as it seems might not be a pushover. Hang tough, Reynard." Click.
Reynard glares at the phone. Next time, I hang up first. He makes a note to find something good for the hacker, while wandering into the gas station again, skimming the magazine racks for headlines.
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