opnet [OpNet] Has anyone heard about this?

[Preston]

Hello people. A case has come up that has me concerned. Though I am releasing some information that is somewhat confidential, I feel the risk is worth it. I will just have to deal with any consequences.

Five days ago, a Korean nova by the name of Dr. Hsi Pak was murdered while visiting here in Boston. He was a top-flight researcher in the field of Quantum Mechanics and artificial quantum constructs. He was in town working with a fellow researcher at MIT. From what I have been told, they were creating an Artificial Intellingence that was to be sustained by a self-perpetuating quantum flow. Basically, a Quantum AI. The science of it is beyond me.

Anyway, there are four things that especially bother me about this case.

1) I did not see this coming until it went down. Not even a twitching in my node. Not that I sense every murder in this town, but I have never missed something this bad happening to a nova.

2) The scene is "polluted". It makes my brain hurt to just view the room and looking at the exact crime scene makes me violently ill. My visions are unclear for the time of the murder. I have never encountered anything like this. My nova teammates feel 'unclean' if they stay in the room too long and several of my baseline colleagues have become violently ill (headaches, nasuea).

3) The Doctor's brain was completely devoured. They sucked up everything down to the second cervical vertabrea, all his brain fluid, and all of the soft tissues in the skull. Everything. I am no stranger to grissly crime scenes, but this is something special. The eyes are also missing.

4) I learned a few hours ago, that another top nova researcher, this one with Utopia, has also been murdered in a similar fashion. No report was released to any police agency, but the incident happened two weeks ago.

Less than twenty hours ago, Dr. Sierra Palmer of Vancouver went missing and I have had a bad feeling concerning something happening to her.

If anyone has any information about this, please let me know.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

Hmmm.

I'm sure others have more to say since this is a little out of my field, but I'd guess that #2 might explain #1. Or it might have been just so horrible that you couldn't bring yourself to watch.

RE: #4: "Bad feeling" in which sense?

RE: #3: You used the word "devoured". Is there evidence for this (teeth marks) or is this a guess? If the later, perhaps a Q guess?

RE: #2: Options are;

1) Trace amounts of a poison.

2) Twisted q powers (hulks & angels can exist, why not something from the other end of the spectrum)

3) Q radiation (although I thought this is supposed to only come from novas)

4) Perhaps the nova or whatever hasn't left the area yet (invisible, very small, etc).

5) ???

[Asche]

I've heard tell of quantum dampening fields, fields in which no quantum "forsight" powers could pierce. Along the same line, what about the possibility that someone knows "you" well enough to hide things from you and they have access to powers/technology that can hide them?

Just my $.02

[Sakurako Hino]

I would assume what Preston ment was a hazing to some sort of Pre-Cog ability. You are the local Pre-Cog here are you not, Mr. Preston?

Something tells me we aren't dealing with any ordinary nova criminal here. And this... thing's... abilities scare me. Trust me, any Nova that would do this is truely a monster.

[Hugin]

A.I. you say?

Interesting.

[Vile Bill]

Some sumnabitch ate the poor fucks brains? Man, and people say I gross them out. I ain't never eaten nobodies brains. Sick fuckin world we live in.

Oh well.

[Stigmata]

Sorry, I have no leads for you. Good luck detective. I hope you can serve up some justice. If there's anything I can do...

[Sakurako Hino]

You can count me in too, Mr. Preston. I wouldn't mind having an adventure. Not to mention finding out just how this nova did what it did. You may need someone with a good head on their shoulders. Unfortunately, that means I may have to help you in the coroner's office... bleah. But, if it means helping bring this animal down, the better.

[Seven]

Quote:

Originally posted by Preston:
Anyway, there are four things that especially bother me about this case.
1) I did not see this coming until it went down. Not even a twitching in my node. Not that I sense every murder in this town, but I have never missed something this bad happening to a nova.

That should tell you that some one was deliberately blocking either your power or Precognative powers in general. Or it could mean that your not as good at it as you might believe yourself to be.

Quote:

2) The scene is "polluted". It makes my brain hurt to just view the room and looking at the exact crime scene makes me violently ill. My visions are unclear for the time of the murder. I have never encountered anything like this. My nova teammates feel 'unclean' if they stay in the room too long and several of my baseline colleagues have become violently ill (headaches, nasuea).

It sounds like a "taint field" to me. Sometimes so much taint builds up in a specific area that it can distort any other quantum fields it comes in contact with. Some taint fields can get so bad that they actually affect baselines on a physical level.

Quote:

3) The Doctor's brain was completely devoured. They sucked up everything down to the second cervical vertabrea, all his brain fluid, and all of the soft tissues in the skull. Everything. I am no stranger to grissly crime scenes, but this is something special. The eyes are also missing.

Ewww!

Quote:

4) I learned a few hours ago, that another top nova researcher, this one with Utopia, has also been murdered in a similar fashion. No report was released to any police agency, but the incident happened two weeks ago.
Less than twenty hours ago, Dr. Sierra Palmer of Vancouver went missing and I have had a bad feeling concerning something happening to her.

Ask yourself what, and who, they have in common. Did your crime scene look like a major struggle took place there or is it (relatively) neat and tidy? That should tell you if the victim knew his attacker. Sorry I can't really be of help here, but I have a few problems of my own to cope with right mow.

[Preston]

Well, first off, Dr. Palmer is okay. When I contacted her about Dr. Pak's murder, she figured out the connection before I did and went into hiding. She is currently working on hiring some long term security.

The link: The were all working on artificial quantum constructs. All different fields: Pak was working on a sustained quantum matrix withing a computer network. The Utopian was working on quantum infused regenerative organs. Palmer was, and still is, working on quantum powered Force Field generators. Though all the works were mainly theoretical, Dr. Palmer informed me that Pak was already in the third stage of development on his project.

Actually, in the beginning, most of my power was just hype. Only within the past six months has it gotten impressive (from my perspective). A dampening field would make sense and the taint field would reasonably explain why we become ill.

The brain was sucshioned out and the brainpan and stem were rasped clean with a 'biological' object. Personally, I believe the organ was eaten. I don't know positively as to why.

Ms. Hino, thank you for your offer, but I don't feel that DeVries would appreciate one of theirs helping out. Boston is civitus non gratus with them right now.

Seven, you seem to have some experience in this field. Is that so?

The Dr. was attacked as he returned to his hotel room around 3:00 am (EDT). His attackers appear to have been in his room for over five hours. Nothing was touched or ransacked that we could tell. They appear to have been waiting for him in a dark room. I also now suspect that he was paralyzed but alive before his brain was removed. Dr. Pak wasn't what most of you would have called combat capable, but you could manifest quantum entities to defend himself if he had been given the time.

[Hugin]

Quote:

Originally posted by Preston:


The link: The were all working on artificial quantum constructs. All different fields: Pak was working on a sustained quantum matrix withing a computer network. The Utopian was working on quantum infused regenerative organs. Palmer was, and still is, working on quantum powered Force Field generators. Though all the works were mainly theoretical, Dr. Palmer informed me that Pak was already in the third stage of development on his project.

Ah how nice, brilliant scientists limiting their achievements by insisting on following narrow paths to a goal.

I have seen some recent results of Dr.s Palmer and Pak's work. They were nowhere near completion, at least from my point of view. I haven't seen the Utopian Research, they are a tad more careful with security.

Maybe someone was simply offended by sloppy research?

[Jager]

James, not everyone jumps from kindergarten to their doctoral thesis.

Something is missing here.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

Hmm. Quantum constructs.

Frankenstein?

[Seven]

Quote:

Originally posted by Preston:

Seven, you seem to have some experience in this field. Is that so?

Well, Quantum field manipulation is what I do, so in that case yeah, I do have some experience with that kind of stuff. I guess.

[Preston]

I get back on the plane and learn that the Directive has superceded my jurisdiction on this case. I'm out, and I really think I was starting to get somewhere with this.

Seven, have you had any success with self-sustaining quantum expressions? What would be the ramifications if someone succeeded creating one? What would happen if someone created a quantum conciousness?

Dr. Meehan, cynicism aside, I think Pak was lying to the world about how far he was along with his work. I suspect he was 'dumbing it down' for the masses, as well as his own safety.

His lab back in Korea has fallen into the Black Hole of Utopia's R&D department. Everything he was working on has been seized. The question is, why would Utopia take 'theoretical work'?

If Dr. Palmer told me the whole story, I'm going back to a beat in South Boston. Of course, now she is in hiding as well.

Why were they lying? Who were they afraid of? How far had they gotten? How much were they in communication?

It has bothered me from the get-go that Dr. Pak had to come to MIT in person and didn't do his research over the Opnet. Everyone else does it, so why fly half-way around the world for a face to face.

The work at MIT is toast, as well. Apparently Dr. Pak was interfacing with an as-of-now unidentified personality. The only reference is persona/program/net-presence named Michael. I don't even want to get into how bizarre trying to read that information is. It doesn't even feel human, and I can't even tell if Michael was the third person, the name of the project they were working on, or another player in this crime.

Mr. Meehan, you mentioned a colleague named Michael when we first 'chatted'. Could this be the same person?

[Hugin]

Quote:

Originally posted by Preston:

Dr. Meehan, cynicism aside, I think Pak was lying to the world about how far he was along with his work. I suspect he was 'dumbing it down' for the masses, as well as his own safety.

Apparently he did a fairly poor job.

As to Micheal. That is a fairly common name Preston. Sounds like shaky ground to start an investigation on. As to my friend Micheal, he is not the violent type. Nor the type to snack on some man's cerebellum. Sorry.

Oh, and just so we are clear, I would appreciate it you did not call me Dr. I have purposely avoided gathering baseline titles or licences for personal amusement. My name is James, Mr. Meehan if you are feeling formal, or Prodigy if you feel fanciful.

Thank you.