Psions Unite! : Newsfeed and Links

[Rorx]

Does what it says on the tin

 

This topic will be for In Game Newsfeeds that your characters may notice and links to relevant information from the real world (shock, gasp!).

 

We'll start with some information for those in First Class on the flight.

 

http://www.headforpoints.com/2014/10/04/review-british-airways-a380-first-class-with-photos/

 

And for those in Business (World Club) class...

 

http://www.businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested/airlines/british-airways/100925/british-airways-a380-club-world-2

[Rorx]

BA A380 seating plan:

 

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/about-ba/fleet-facts/airbus-380-800

 

First class is practically full of  PC's and various NPC companions/associates, there are only about 3 seats free and one of those may be taken by Sakura.

 

Evo and Millicent I would prefer if you were in the first 3 rows of World Traveller, unless you wanted to see if you got bumped up to Business....(how are you dressed, what's your demeanor like...).

[Rorx]

Segment from CNN Today 19:25 March 19th 2020,

 

Scene: Amara Walker in the studio glances at screen in the desk before addressing the camera

 

"And finally astronomers and scientist across the World are in place to record and in some cases collect examples of the the latest meteor shower to pepper our planet. The shower tonight has been eagerly awaited since the comet Shoemaker-Levy 13 collided with an asteroid close to Jupiter last September. Here is Professor Charles Alcock of Harvard University."

 

"This shower offers us an unparalleled opportunity to investigate the composition of the asteroids in our solar system. Since the collision we have been monitoring the spread of the debris as it moves into the inner system with both optical and radar imaging technology and are certain that it does not present a threat. We are however hoping for some meteors to survive transiting the atmosphere and the astronomical community has a number of teams ready across the world to locate and collect such samples."

 

Streaks in the air can be seen in the dark sky behind the hill that the professor is standing on beside an observatory.

 

"Leading elements of the shower actually began to enter the atmosphere about an hour before sunset here in New York, but we do not expect it to reach its peak density here until about midnight tonight, by which time the leading elements would have encompassed the world."

 

The scene returns to Amara in the studio.

 

"Thank you Professor. We'll be back after these messages".

 

Cuts to adverts.

[Rorx]

20:05 March 19th 2020

 

Anderson Cooper 360 on the Meteor Shower - What are the risks?

 

"And now we turn to the view from the International Space Station. Commander John Peel, how does the shower look from up there."

 

"Pretty spectacular I must say. I was here for the Perseid shower two years ago and this new shower must have 10 times the number of particles hitting the atmosphere than we saw then Anderson."

 

"What protection do you and the other stations have up there?"

 

"Well normally we have a couple of layers to break up and absorb the small stuff of less than a millimeter or so, but having some idea of what was heading our way we have had an extensive program of spacewalks going on over the last 3 months to put on an extra 3 layers, including an overlapping solid sheet layer in order to protect us from bigger fragments. These overlapping layers act like old fashioned scale mail armor to spread the energy of the fragments. As for the other stations, I believe that Bigelow One as done something similar and Bigelow Two has been moved to shelter behind Bigelow One from the majority of the fragments."

 

"And what of us down here Commander, do we have anything to fear?"

 

"Anderson, we at NASA and the rest of the astronomical community have been carefully watching the progress of this debris as it spread out and developed into the meteor shower we are seeing today, and we have seen no signs of any chunks big enough to cause significant damage. Yes, one might be able to total your car, but no towns are going to get wiped out or anything drastic like that."

 

"Thank you Commander and on that note we will leave you."

 

"Good ni.."

BANG!!

 

The image jerks wildly , the camera apparently knocked from it clamp into freefall and small objects can be seen being rapidly sucked towards a burst window  behind the Commander. He turns towards the window as the camera image spins to one side still capturing various objects rushing towards the window.Then the screen flicks to the NASA symbol.

 

The scene cuts back to the studio and a pale and flustered Anderson Cooper.

 

"Well it seems the ISS has suffered an impact with a bigger than expected meteor and a window has been breached live on camera here. We will try to bring you more information on this during the show."

[Rorx]

 For those following the news there is an update on the ISS at 2145 CST 19th March 2020:

 

" A NASA spokesperson has announced that the breach to the observation bay window has been sealed albeit with a very slow leak and so the astronauts aboard the ISS have sealed off that section and recovered the remaining atmosphere from there into the ready tanks. They do not intend to use the Dragon escape module until the meteor shower passes in approximately 36 hours as the module does not have the same thickness of protection as the majority of the ISS does."

 

 

[Rorx]

22:00 CST 19th March 2020

 

Meanwhile those watching CNN get a more vivid display. The anchor suddenly starts twitching as though trying to resist an itch but rapidly loses to this impulse and starts to itch her head and body. Crying out she falls to the floor as you can hear others in the background reacting similarly to something.  The camera follows her briefly then suddenly jerks up and to the side but she can still be seen in the bottom corner of the screen. She suddenly goes stiffly straight and still and silence falls, then within seconds a faint covering seems to form over her, rapidly thickening over the course of about 10 seconds to a black layer. After about 15 seconds a second layer starts to form, this one a smokey glass or crystalline one.

 

A clock can be seen ticking away silently in the background of the image, given a live check on the date/time this occurred.

[Rorx]

Following CNN effectively going off the air, unless you wanted to look at a pod, most people had turned to BBC News 24 channel for any information on what was going on. The next headlines came at 2215 from a slightly pale anchor.

 

"Following the startling news that a large portion of the population of the world seems to have been enveloped by some kind of crystalline cocoon, including my colleagues in Singapore, we go now to our Science correspondent Jonathan Amos."

[This Newsday programme at 0300 GMT - 2200 EST is normally co-hosted from London and Singapore and would normally concentrate on the Asian business markets.]

 

The camera cuts to a slightly disheveled middle aged man.

"Since things started some quarter of an hour ago we have investigated the extent of the phenomenon and have found that the initial wave of changes occurred across a vast area of the planet from the East coast of North and South America westward across the pacific, Australia, Asia and the majority of India. We are now also able to confirm that it is continuing to spread from the east and is calculated to hit the UK at about 0500 this morning. About ten minutes ago at 0310 we were informed that the Prime Minister has called an emergency video conference of the COBRA emergency committee and is expecting to make a statement at 0330."

 

"However, we are able to state that the timing of the event and its rate of progress around the world has been found to correlate with the build-up in density and spread of the meteor shower. Whatever the effect of these cocoons the source of this is confirmed as extraterrestrial in origin. We will bring you more news as we get it and the PM's statement at 0330."

 

 

Come 0330 GMT [2230 EST] the British Prime Minister appeared on camera, slightly disheveled and perhaps a touch paler then usual but calm and determined. 

"We have been in touch with our partners in Europe, Greenland and Iceland and are determined to prepare as well as we can for these events. To that end all reservists and TA personnel are to report in to their commanding officers by any means available by 0400 today. Be that a phone call, a text, email or going and banging on their door. We need to know who can be ready to help us organise the aftermath of this event. All motorways and A roads are to be cleared by 0430. If you can get to your destination then please do so, but if not please pull into the first service station you see. There are a lot of planes still en route to the UK and we need to do what we can to accommodate them as safely as possible and so I address the following to those in the air. If you can reach your destination in the UK or Europe by 0430 then please do so. If not then keep coming to your original airport. We are in the process of clearing the runways and taxi ways of all aircraft currently landed and will keep webcams of the runways and grounds running throughout the events to come. Use these to plan your landing, and if airports become too congested use the Motorway system which we are clearing of cars for your use."

 

"Together we are preparing for this event as best as we can, and we hope to see you all once it has passed. God Bless us all."

[Rorx]

At 0415 a video is shown live of the last British forces in Afghanistan in full kit on parade as the effect hits them. From the time that one of the soldiers raises his hand at first feeling an itch begin to the time they are rolling on the ground frantically itching is about a minute. After that it is less than a minute before they are unconscious, stiff straight and completely covered in a cocoon.

 

From that disturbing footage they switch immediately to a camera that has been mounted on the inside of a plane cockpit looking over the pilots shoulder out the windscreen as they descend into an airport in Turkey some 10 minutes after the country had succumbed to the effect. The pilot explains for the camera that they have assumed that whatever is causing this is in the air somehow, and since it hadn't affected them as they flew in from Pakistan it must be closer to the ground than they were cruising. Since it is in the air they have shut down the external ventilation intakes in order to try to slow its effect. With a quick prayer to Allah, the pilot begins his descent for a landing. The landing goes smoothly but while he is throttling back the engines you can see the beginning of the itch getting to him, however the pilot does manage to slow the craft to little more than a walking speed and with his last act turn it off the runway on a slow drift towards the perimeter fence before succumbing completely. The video is returned to the anchor in the studio at that point.

 

0430 The News channels are reporting the end of the preparations with airports and motorways cleared of vehicles barring the odd lone emergency or military vehicle doing last minute checks.

 

0445 The Prime Minister and the Queen give a joint address thanking everyone for their efforts in the preparations and their hope to see us all on the other side. The Queen closes with a somber and heartfelt "God bless us all."

 

As the clock ticks down towards 0500 and the time the affect is expected to hit the UK the staff of BBC News 24 in London come together, the anchors, journalists, crew, production staff and runners, all join together sitting on the floor live on camera waiting for their turn. And soon after 5am it comes, hitting them in the now familiar way. The video is left running live with no one to switch it away, the clock on the wall continuing to tick round and a digital counter counting the minutes since it first hit them, triggered by one of the crew when the itching began.

[Rorx]

22:00 EST 20th March 2020

 

Live from the CNN study in New York

 

The scene has not changed but for the clock time/date for about 24 hours, a cocoon can still be seen on the floor to the side of and behind the normal anchor desk, the camera is tilted up and slightly to the other side.

 

At 2 minutes past the cocoon on the ground moves a little side to side, then a weak thud can be heard and a brief bulges appears in the top surface of the cocoon, like someone hit cardboard. It is quickly repeated and cracks appear in the cocoon. Then a rapid series of blows are evident as several punches and kicks fore there way through the cocoon material and the female anchor soon emerges. While this is going on other similar sounds can be heard in the distance. The anchor sits up and looks around, brushing the fragments off her as she struggles up and out of the cocoon in a similar fashion to getting out of a crumbly bath. After a brief wobble as she starts walking she soon straightens up and approaches the camera, going past and calling.

"Gary? You ok there Gary?"

A muffled reply presumably from Gary is followed by more punching/ripping sounds.

"God Sarah! What the hell was that!"

"Shhh, the camera is still live! You up to operating it."

"Yeah,....Yeah I guess so."

 

The female anchor walks back towards her desk, straightening her clothes and brushing a few bits of debris off as she does so. Meanwhile the camera image straightens and centres on the desk again. Sitting behind the desk the anchor glances at her computer screen then addresses the camera.

 

"This is CNN live in New York, I'm Sarah Green and the time is now 2205. Having just emerged from some sort of cocoon or pod here in the studio as has my cameraman Gary Wilmott I assume that this is not an isolated incident and will be back with more information after these messages."

 

The channel then cuts to adverts so presumably someone in the production suite had recovered as well.

 

 

 

[Rorx]

22:10 EST  20th March 2020 CNN

 

The adverts end and the channel returns to Sarah Green at the anchors desk.

 

"And we're back. In more ways than one it seems. We've done a quick survey here in the CNN offices and found that everyone here in the States apparently got cocooned around the same time of about 10pm yesterday the 19th March 2020. Through contacting our other offices around the world we have found that countries across the Pacific, Australasia, Japan, and as far as India seem to have been affected at the same time. From email messages and repeating internet, radio and TV messages we have learnt that this effect spread across the world like a wave, hitting Europe approximately 3 hours after us and completing the loop in Greenland an hour later. Since we have emerged we have been in contact with our Asia offices and so expect the rest of the world to emerge in due course."

 

With a brief glance at her screen she continues in more somber tones, "I regret to inform you that not everyone seems to have survived whatever the cocoons did to us. A number of cocoons have been found to be empty and partially dismantled when other people in the area emerged. There are no indications that these people emerged early, they just appear to have gone in the same way that the cocoons start to slowly disappear."

 

"On a brighter note the existence of psychic abilities has now been proven. Two of the people in the office seem to have developed some abilities while in their cocoon and one of them has volunteered to demonstrate what she can do."

 

A woman in her late twenties comes into shot wheeling out a table with a laptop on, which she stops next to the Anchors desk and turns to face the camera. The display is showing a log on screen.

 

"Anne is one of our production staff who can now apparently mentally control computers. We will put one camera on the screen and a 2nd on her hands to show that just a single finger is touching the case of the laptop and nothing is using the keyboard."

 

As she says the last part the two camera images appear on the screen and then zoom in to the details she mentioned with the keyboard/hand image in a corner of the screen image.

 

"Ok, Anne, could you log on for me?" says Sarah

"Sure." says Anne and as she does so the mouse pointer moves to the log on controls almost too fast to see, followed by a a rapid series of asterisks where the password would be typed in.

"Thanks, that was fast." comments the anchor

"Yeah, it's faster to think about what you want to do than to move the mouse and click and type stuff etc."

"Ok, how about opening Word and writing something."

"Okaay. Yeah, ok, I know what to write."

Once again as she speaks the mouse flashes across to the Word icon, and it starts loading up. Once loaded the words from the Gettysburg address start appearing faster than you could expect someone to type them, just a few seconds for a couple of lines of A4 text.

 

"Thank you, Anne.", the camera shot moves to the anchor again.

"We'd like to know if you have shown any psychic abilities since you emerged and what kind of things you can do. Anne is just setting a website up where you can leave a comment and/or your information."