All six of their group were sitting around the wide-open living room area of the suite.  Nine was rummaging through the plastic bags from radio Shack, occasionally mumbling a "yes" or a "hmm, that should work".  Tom and Ghost had taken off their coats as Ghost finished giving his story about the girl in the lobby.

Nine went through the inventory excitedly. A part of him was disappointed that they hadn't been able to garner much more than than the parts and tools necessary to repair the one computer. It meant modifications would have to wait, unless he wanted to cannibalize both systems and start over. That idea held promise, but he needed to see what information he could extract from the system first, before he started tearing it apart.  The promise of new information did much to overcome his disappointment.

Nine started itemizing the parts and tools, removing the packaging and familiarizing himself with the tools. The rest of the group saw him sitting amongst a pile of plastic, paper and cardboard, fondling each new thing with hands and feet, while staring out one of the wide windows. They all seemed familiar to him in some way, but when he'd look at the name it seemed wrong somehow, when he spoke the names they tasted off.

Not Betty rushed up to greet Ghost upon his entry, and circled him while he related the story of the woman.  Satisfied that he was in one piece and exactly as he left, she relaxed.  

"Visitor."  She smiled brightly.  "We can have visitor."

"Yes, well..." Tom said, watching the odd little greeting and trying not to glower at the strangeness of... her. "As Ghost said, she doesn't seem to be near as skilled as our previous visitor, despite her use of technology to track us. And she's painfully young." He strode over to one of the many large windows and peered down at the city, hands clasped behind his back. "Unless she's like us, or has a battalion of minions to come to her aid, I believe we can handle her."

The phone in the suite rang, a gentle trilling that they'd grown used to enough that nobody jumped when it sounded. 

"Yes," Tom said, reaching over and plucking one of the phones from its cradle.

"Good morning.  This is Paris at the front desk.  A Ms. Bristow from Halo Consulting is here asking to be sent up.  She says that you're expecting her."

"Indeed we are. Please have her come forth." 

He hung up the device and turned to face the others, his gaze falling on Betty with a peculiar mix of resignation and discomfort. "Should we need to.. uh... change her mind, are you up to the task?" 

"I can change her mind however you like" a sly grin spread across Betty's face at the thought.

"Visitor!" Not Betty said, nearly bouncing on the tips of her toes.  "Visitor in the Big Big!"

"You heard the girl," Al looked to Nine and his computer.  "Bristow.  Halo Consulting."  He smiled, drawing on the accent he'd heard all around him since arriving in the city.  "Soich.  Let's see what you can find before she gets up here."

Nine looked up from his nest of discarded packaging and sighed heavily. He carefully cleared a path through the debris and knuckled over to the desk he'd set up as his work station. Flipping open the clam shell, he brought the computer to life, and initiated a basic search algorithm for their visitor.

The first data element returned from the interactive data store was a biography page for Emma Bristow, a woman who carried the title of Senior Managing Consultant for her faction: Halo Consulting LP.  There was a picture in soft profile near the top of a young woman with dark brown hair.  She looked professional and wise yet approachable - the perfect consultant.  Her resume included notations as to her education and previous experience and was both long and impressive.

As far as Halo Consulting went, the main page for the organization billed it as a specialist in giving advice of a technological nature on subjects ranging from communications to security to data processing and storage.  They claimed to be able to find efficiencies in any organization for whom they consult.

"That's her," Tom said, peering over Nine's russet-haired shoulder, nodding.

"Pretty visitor."  Not Betty cooed sweetly from behind them, as she played with her long auburn curls.  "Pretty...pretty...pretty."

"Anything connecting this Halo with the last shower who tried to take us down?"  Al started to pace around the suite, listening for signs of their visitor's arrival.

Ghost simply moved to the doorway. He simply stood, arms crossed over his chest, managing to look both relaxed and ready for action at the same time.  Betty continued to lounge in the living room, awaiting her next opportunity to explore her talents.

"We don't have time for a thorough search, but I'll see what I can come up with." Nine replied. He quickly put actions to words, creating a general news search for Halo Consulting and BlacKnight industries. This was child's play, in fact the Princess's rapidly progressing duplicate could have easily found the information. Much to his ironic amusement there was none.  The two organizations apparently had no links known to this database.

Nine itched for a task that really stretched his talents, a puzzle worthy of his intellect. Granted he still had the whole who the hell were they and what the hell are they doing here thing to solve, but that puzzle had reached a static point. Without better equipment/information, Nine was pretty much stopped. He shrugged internally, and began planning the restoration of the broken computer.

A soft muffled ding from the far end of the suite signaled the elevator arriving from the lobby with their guest.  She was likely standing there now, waiting just outside the door to the elevator foyer.

Not Betty squealed with anticipation as the ding signaled and rushed to the door.  Before anyone could stop her she swept open the door, grinning broadly at the new comer.  "Welcome!  Would like omelet?"

The girl beyond the doorway matched the one in the picture, and both Tom and Ghost confirmed with a nod to the others that this was the woman who had contacted them.  She looked at NotBetty quizzically, through alert but confused eyes, trying to figure out the meaning of her words as she adjusted the fall of the bag strapped over her shoulder. 

"Um, no thank you, your Highness," she replied hesitantly, and followed it up with a short bow.  "May I come in?"

"Your what?" Tom said, the words out before he'd even realized he'd spoken them. He'd wanted to thump the annoying twin on the back of the head for rushing to the door like a fool, but their visitors deferential attitude and... and a bow of all things... took the wind right out of his sails. Surely he'd misheard her.

The pretty brunette ducked her head a bit to try and make them all out.  She unconsciously shook her head in wonder at what she was seeing but was able to respond, a bit more confidently than before.

"Her Highness, Princess of the Sun, heir to the Golden Throne, the Most Luminescent Ardala of Byzantia.  Your..."  Her eyes caught Betty standing back near the tall, dark-skinned Al in all his muscular cross-armed intimidation and she quickly donned a mask of confusion, her eyes darting back and forth between Betty and NotBetty. 

"Your Grace?"

"My Grace?"  The peculiar twin quipped with a curious tilt of her head.  She grinned broadly deciding she liked it.  "Me Grace.  I Grace, I'm Grace."

Ghost's brows furrowed at the titles the woman used, but he remained quietly at the ready, moving slowly in conjunction with their visitor so as to remain within striking range without appearing immediately threatening. At least, not as threatening.  Betty cocked her head in consideration of the information this woman would offer.  Being a grace didn't sound all that bad.

"You know who we are?  Or, at least, you think you do."  Al tilted his head and peered at the visitor.  "You'd better sit down.  I've a feeling this is going to be a long day."

The woman nodded in both understanding and knowing agreement before taking tentative steps into the suite.  She jumped slightly upon noticing Ghost standing just scant feet away from her.

"Oh, you startled me...again," she added, looking sheepish for a moment before regaining her footing and moving on towards the others.

"If that woman," Tom said gruffly, pointing at the babbling 'Grace', "is Queen of anything, than I'm the Duke of New York." He stalked across the large living area, never letting his eyes off their visitor as she made her tentative way into the suite. "Now Emma Bristow, it is time you told us what you think you know." He glowered as he took up a position in front of the large video device mounted to the wall across from the divan, arms folded across his chest. "And more importantly, how you know." 

Her head was turning this way and that.  Excitement glistened in her large eyes like a kid on Christmas morning while she moved to sit on the couch.  They surrounded her now, with an edge to their patience, clearly waiting on her.

"You must be him," she finally said, this to Tom.  "The leader.  I can't believe this is really real, you know?  I mean... wow.  It's like a television show come to life."

Her gaze settled on the orangutan.  "You... You're Doctor Nine.  Can you really talk?"

Nine looked up from the computer where he'd been diagramming out the circuit board repairs, and making notes on potential changes. He'd wandered with the laptop back to his nest of parts and packaging to to better organize the parts.

He rolled his eyes at the question, but answered politely. "Of courthe, Mith Brithtow, I'm jutht as capable of thpeech as the retht of your are. We find ourthelves in a bit of a predicament and you theem to be in pothession of information that we'd very much like to have. It would go a long way towards thetting my compatriots at ease if you explained what you know, and how you came to learn it, and motht importantly what you want in exchange for it. We've had little reason to trutht at this point, and are quite underthtandably a bit anxiouth."

The young woman sitting on couch watched Nine with open-mouthed fascination as the primate explained the situation to her.  After a significant pause, her only reply was a breathy, "Woah."

She shook her head.  "Okay, Mandy, get a grip," she murmurred under her breath.

To the rest of them, she said in a high but somewhat more controlled state of excitement, "I'm sorry if I seem a little blown away by all this, but you... I mean, none of you exist.  Or rather, none of you should exist.  Here, that is.  I mean, if everything in the chronolog is really true and not just some trippy George Lucas fantasy then I think I can explain everything, but..."

Her eyes squinted with perceptive suspicion and she looked askance at the lot of them.  "If it's all true then why do you need me to explain it to you?"

"Because none of us know anything about our own existences prior to a few days ago." Tom said calmly. "You said leader. Leader of what?" He looked over at Nine. "Please, could you check the datastore on this Ardala of Byzantia? See where it is, and if this Ardala resembles... her." He jerked his chin over towards Grace.

Ghost repressed a sigh. Once again they were giving away information for free. "We won't be in the...datastore," he said flatly, his eyes focused on the woman. Then he addressed her directly. "Start at the beginning. Your name--your real name--where you come from, why you are here, and why now." His eyes flicked to Tom. He wanted to know who they were dealing with first. Then they could exchange pleasantries.  "We can progress from there."

Tom's return look was dark. But he said nothing.

Nine silently agreed with Ghost. His mind caught on the word Chronolog. there was something about it, it tickled a memory.  He tried, valiantly to pull the memory forward, to even grasp the memory, even felt the word, and it's subsequent meaning slip to 'tip of his tongue' so to speak, but it never materialized. It was all so damn frustrating!

He turned his attention to the screen and found while that he had absently performed the search asked. The datastore did return a response to Ardala of Byzantia. quickly browsing through the entries he determined that this Ardala was a character in piece of fiction called Buck Rogers, and was often portayed as a scantily clad brunette. Nothing at all like the twins.

Nine sighed, and cleared the screen, saved his circuit modifications file and turned his attention fully to conversation.

"My real name?" she asked.  Then she nodded with that sheepish smile again and pointed at Ghost and said, "Right, yeah, you're Ghost the super spy.  Probably saw through Bristow in a heartbeat.  She's my best one, a combination of Emma Peel and Sidney Bristow, my two favorite female spies."  She sighed.  "Anyway..."

"My real name is Mandolin Snow, but everybody calls me Mandy.  I'm from Brooklyn.  Well, I'm originally from Manchester Falls, Indiana, but I've lived in New York for the past fifteen years.  As for why I'm here now, well, that's kind of a long story but the Reader's Digest version goes like this:"

It came out in one long flowing breath.  "My roommate owns a hard drive that she inherited from her Dad and it has all kinds of weird stuff on it including files on all of you and these amazing stories that were written like official logs or reports or something but somebody ran your picture through the FBI's database and it activated some program I didn't know was there and told me you were all here so I came to see for myself because you're supposed to be fictional and I couldn't believe it."

Mandy smiled sweetly at them all.  "I still kinda can't.  This is so awesome."

Ghost simply nodded. He didn't understand half of what she'd said, and the other half made no sense. Except the part about them being fictional. That elicited only a slight twitch of the brow.

"This FBI - they know we are here." Tom mused gruffly."As does whoever gave them the reports on us." He stared at Mandolin Snow. "Who are we. Names, for each of us if you have them. And places, birth places and allegiances. What did these reports say?" Perhaps just hearing a name, or a home would help illuminate the black mansions of his mind. Of all their minds. 

"Wow, like, you really don't know, do you?" she asked sympathetically.  With a shrug, she continued, "For what it's worth, I have some names.  You're Ghost," she said, nodding at the Asian.  "That's a code name according to your file.  Your position at the Intelligence Directorate mandates no names."

"And you're Bulwark," she said, this time to Al.  "That's a code name, too, but for different reasons.  You're one of the Vigilant, an ancient order of protectors, each specifically devoted to the protection of one individual.  You're dedicated to the Princess, which is considered a tremendous honor among your order, her being or royal blood."

You're obviously the Princess, your Grace," she said to Betty.  "Or you are," she said to NotBetty.  "I'm confused on that score, I admit.  Nothing in your file indicates a twin.  But she... Of course!"  Mandy's excitement kicked up a notch.  "You must be the Beta unit!"

"I'm the Beta Unit!"  Grace said with equal parts enthusiasm as she bounced on the the tips of her toes.  "Beta Unit Grace."

"She's the Beta unit," she said to the orangutan.  "You created her!"  Seeing some confusion, Mandy explained, "She's a genetic construct.  Doctor Nine is a pioneer in genetic sciences among your people.  She's like a clone but without a base copy."  With a glance towards Betty she added, "I guess you gave her one."

"I'm the Beta Unit."  Grace repeated again, enjoying their visitor's energy.

Nine squinted intensley at their visitor. A beta unit? Something he created. He pondered the science behind her words. A cloned person, without a template? Stem cells, differentiated into organs, but with a generic genetic sequence, once that could be altered to fit need, duplicate another being's.... Nine's mind spun with the implications. With the right technology, Nine was sure he could replicate such a thing. It would easily explain some of the silent twin's, ... Grace's abilities, and odd behaviours. Her mimic abilities must be a function of the imprinting process.  He needed access to these files, and time. time to fully understand. The rest of the discussion registered on his thoughts.

Finally, Mandy looked at Tom, and unlike with the others, her eyes held no secret knowledge or factual tidbit.  "By process of elimination, you've got to be the leader.  I... He doesn't have a name.  At least, not in any of the reports or logs."  She started to look almost embarrassed.

"You were... well... I guess 'persona non grata' is the best way to describe it.  You've been... erased... from all official recordings.  Not in fact but in name, which is still pretty bad, I guess," she finished weakly.

Ghost turned an amused look on Tom. His own name was a secret, the so-called leader's name erased. This was getting better by the minute.

"You're all the leadership of a rebellion, according to the stories.  You rebelled against an emperor, some guy who took power from the royal family in a military-type coup or something.  This was your escape, coming here.  They'd captured you and..."

Her eyes drifted to Betty and settled there for just a moment before seeking sanctuary anywhere else.  "You were captured and you escaped, and you came here.  I only know all this because someone came after you.  I never realized it before but my friend's hard drive must have come from your world, or dimension, or whatever - with the guy who came after you."

Mandy stopped for a moment as she realized that each and every one of them was hanging on her every word.  It was a lot of information and she had to be sure she passed it on in the right way, and there really was only one way to do that.

She reached into her bag and removed a laptop similar to the one they'd taken from the house.

"Here," she said, taking a cable and connecting into the large screen television monitor input chain that Nine had established.  "Maybe you should just see for yourself."

The images scrolled and flashed, and a captivated Beta perched herself next to Mandy as she watched with open interest.  Sometime during the showing, she'd began playing with their visitor's hair, enjoying the softness of it as she absently twirled it around her fingers.  Their guest's hand came up to find Beta's and gave it a reassuring stroke with her finger and a pat to let her know it was okay.

Nine moved from his nest, his full attention focused on the images being presented. He soaked in every evidence of technology, his mind spitting out the possibilities, the mechanics of bringing it to fruition. Even the device called the excessive machine. He could see how the obvious application of the pleasure/pain dictomy could easily be used to break and condition someone. There were applications well beyond torture, interrogation, and apparently slavery.

When the images stopped, Nine itched to restart them, to examine them, to pick apart every detail. He reached for the device and barely restrained himself. There was no doubt in his mind that what they'd seen was possible, the science, the mechanics, the applications were bursting to be let free, to be recreated. The main issue was that there was no recollection of any of it. None. It was like he had watched a recording of someone elses life. there was no attachment to it, beyond the understanding of the possibilities.

When it was over, when the last of the images had faded from the viewing unit, when the last of the explanations of what had come later were pronounced, Tom closed his eyes, hands bunching into fists at his side.

Nothing. Nameless leader. Erased. Not even this Dominus, this hunter, had spoken my name. But is it true, do I trust any of it? It had been there, on the screen. They had all watched it. But is it true?

He wanted to break something. To scream. To make the machine tell him more, explain things more fully. He opened his eyes, his gaze falling on Betty and he winced, blood rushing to his face in fury at what had been done to her. The images of the creature Dominus coupling with her over and over rose unbidden again and again, and Tom had to look away then, look down at the floor and seethe.

Animal. Monster! I will break you for this, break you and erase your name from this world - from every world - as you did mine. I swear it!

Nine. Nine was the key then, the brilliant scientist who had somehow freed them all from pain and torture and brought them to this place. Nine. Who had somehow brought Tom back from the dead. He shivered at the scope of the apes plan, the complexities of which he'd never understand. 

"Do any of you," Tom began, his voice little more than a croak. He cleared his throat and began again. "Do any of you remember any of this? Does this make sense to you?" His gaze immediately sought out the ape as he asked the question. 

Ghost gave a curt shake of the head. None of it made sense to him, and he certainly had no recollection of any of the events of this other world. It did, however, provide an interesting foundation for their existence. Different worlds. Rebellion. There was a certain thrill at the prospect.

"This....Dominus," he began. "He is here. Now. And he has a secure base of operations, agents and soldiers to do his bidding, resources..." Again that slight shake of the head. "How is this possible? We arrived but a day ago. How could he have accomplished so much in such a short time?"

"Dominus...very bad man."  Beta said with a light tremor in her voice.  "No like Dominus."  She was confused, wondering if it had been her or Betty that had been his prisoner.

"Yeah," Mandy agreed.  "A very bad man."  She looked over at the Princess.  "I'm sorry, your Grace.  When I thought it was fiction I thought..."  She cut off embarassedly, one hand absently tracing a line up her arm.  "Sorry."

But then she perked up again, just a little.  "But you seem okay now.  Maybe whatever made you guys forget everything cured her of whatever he did."

"Hmrph" Betty grunted as she offered a brief smirk.  She was not pleased nor comfortable with the exposure of her past circumstances.

Ghost inclined his head. In the absence of a command it was possible the...treatment...simply lay dormant, and that the Princess would revert when faced with her tormentor. In such an eventuality she would become a liability for them all.

"Let us hope so," was all he said aloud.

"I concur with our guetht." Nine said succintly. "It's entirely probable that the conditioning was broken by the mechanics that wiped our memories. It is entirely probable that was part of my ... the reasoning behind the changing of the targeting protocols mentioned. It would have therved theveral purpotheth, cleanse what had been done to the princeth, hide our current whereabouts, and prevent, or make it difficult for anyone to follow."

"Dominus arrived earlier than you think," Mandy replied in answer to Ghost's previous question.  "The story says that he intended to come a day before you and set a trap, but that something went wrong during his trip and he ended up coming here over seven hundred years ago, in what we call the fourteenth century.  That was a fairly dark period if I remember my history, with lots of territorial wars.  Millions died from plagues and famine.  What makes you guys think he's still around?"

"Dominus bad bad man.  No want Dominus in Big Big."  Beta simpered in Ghost's general direction.  Whenever something provoked her or scared her, she would return to the familiar form of the Asian super spy.

"We are known," Ghost replied. He offered a tight smile to Beta, absently offering some support. "The group who confronted us--Black Knight Security--knew of us, if not well. No one here should know of us. If even half of what you say is true, no one here could know of us. Since someone does, it had to be our enemy. Even if it is not Dominus himself--" and Ghost wasn't sure how it could be, given this woman's estimation of how long he had lain in wait for them "--then his descendant, or successor, or.." he waved a hand dismissively. The title didn't matter. "Dominus, or someone like him, is here, and they know we are here, as well. It gives us a starting point."

"What I do not understand," he continued, "Is how you know about us." He waved at the woman's computer. "Our enemy has had--time--to prepare for us. How is it you came by this information, and how is it you found us so readily?" To him, this was important. A resourceful enemy was one thing; a lucky amateur discovering them, their secrets and their hiding places so quickly was disconcerting, at best. It meant they weren't nearly as secure as they had hoped. He would have to take whatever steps necessary to ensure their safety once this woman gave up her own secrets.

"I'm not stupid," she replied defensively.  "I know I may come off as a spaz sometimes but I'm pretty good with this thing," she said, placing her hand on her laptop.  "My methods might not all be technically legal, but they work.  Let's just say that I have access to certain systems that others don't.  That plus a little detective work and Bob's your uncle."

"Bob."  Beta said absently as she followed along with the conversation.

"As for how I know about you, well, that's not really my place to say."  Again she indicated her computer and said, "The chronolog isn't mine, technically.  I just have access to it and when I realized that you all were real and here, well, I... I got excited and kind of acted on impulse."

Mandy paused while the others looked at her and then she chuckled weakly.  The peculiar twin sitting next to her, lifted up a generous portion of long blond hair and offered it to her.  A soft coo of "it's soft" escaped Beta's lips as she continued to sweetly offer it.  Apparently the beta unit felt that it would soothe her nerves.

"None of that was truly an answer," Tom replied dryly. He looked over at the ape. "Can you access her datastore with your own? Copy this information? Sieve it for what might not be visible to the casual observer?" 

"Of courthe." Nine replied, before turning to Mandy. "Mith Thnow, with your permission?" 

"Um, yes, of course," she managed, clearly nervous but unwilling to say no just yet.  She didn't know how much she should trust these people, but that seemed like a strange concern at this point; something she really should have thought about before jumping in with both feet.

Nine's long agile fingers fairly flew over the keys of the laptop he'd acquired. with a few simple commands he created a temporary user connection to the network, a small and semi secure gate through the wall he'd built to hide themselves from discovery.

When Mandy had accessed the network and shared the drive, Nine began his search. the first thing he tried was to copy it directly. he ran into several issues, one a basic incompatibility in operating systems, apparently Miss Snow's computer had been customized. His impression of the girl's skill increased the more he worked. The second and most difficult obstacle was the security around the information. He could access it to read it, but could not copy it.

Nine was sure that with unlimited time and access he could eventually work his way around the security protocols, but he doubted Miss Snow would allow that. So he settled, reluctantly at best, with the access allowed him. The first file he pulled up, of course was his own.

He scanned the information quickly, then started over at the beginning, reading each line in detail. Some of the assumptions he'd made about himself were false. He'd thought of himself as a member of a naturally evolved species of Ape. Equal to Homo sapiens sapiens. The file indicated this was not so. Initially, he'd been not much different than the species found on this planet. He'd been the ninth of twenty orangs, all test subjects in a genetic modification program, designed to increase intellectual capacity.

Of his group he'd been the only one to not only survive, but show increased intelligence. In fact, he'd gone so far beyond the scope of the project that he was actually considered the pre-eminent mind on his world. His advances in the field of applied genetics are considered ahead of their time.

His advances made genetic enhancement of all kinds de rigeur on his world. The enhancements shown so far by his compatriots - photographic memory, increased fitness, mental acuity - all stem from research and procedures he himself pioneered. This information explained why Nine had been drawn to, and felt superior to the knowledge he'd found in the datastore.  

Ghost noticed her reluctance and found it interesting. Why be so forthcoming with information yet reticent to reveal it's origins?

"Twice now you have mentioned a chronolog," he said aloud. "Most recently you said that it is not yours. What is this 'chronolog' and to whom does it belong?"

Ghost's question drew Nine's attention from his perusal.

"It's a flash drive on steroids, basically."  Seeing that they had no idea what she was talking about, Mandy explained, "It's a machine that stores information for use by computers - words, images, sounds, and things - but this one is very special.  It has a faster transfer rate and more capacity than any computer data store I've ever encountered.  I never knew where it came from, only that it was different, unique.  I had to build a custom interface for it.  Now, I think... I think it came from where you're from. 

"Yes, of course!"  She exclaimed.  "The bad guy, Dominus, he had a box of stuff with him when he came here.  That must have been the box!"

Ghost took a slow, deep breath, repressing the urge to shake, strangle or slap the girl.

"You're doing it again," he said when he could trust himself not to shout. "What box? Where is it? And who does the chronolog belong to now?"

Beta's brow furrowed with concern at the tension in the room, not quite sure why everyone was agitated at their friendly visitor.

"The box," she tried to explain, still fairly excited at what seemed to be a major revelation to her.  "It appeared about thirty years ago and contained a lot of stuff nobody had ever seen before.  Nobody knew where it came from or why it just suddenly appeared like it did, but now it makes sense!  When Dominus came here there was a problem that sent him off to the right place but at the wrong time.  What if the same thing happened to his box?  The chronolog has information on all of you because it was his!"

She focused on Nine and continued.  "One of the guys who found the box was a technologist.  He was able to figure most of it out, so he and this other guy, ah, used some of it to... well... do stuff.  When they were done, they sent the box to someone they felt that they could trust with it, and that person shared it with me - mainly because I'm a technologist and they needed some help figuring the stuff out."

"Where is this chronolog now?" Tom asked. "Can it be brought here?" He pursed his lips then said "Rather, can it be brought to us somewhere? Somewhere random within the city? Considering how easily you found us, it must be assumed that this Dominus can do the same." He looked at the others. "In fact, we should probably leave and find another location to work from." 

Beta frowned at that, and looked at the large screen television in the room.  The idea of leaving it, wasn't sitting well with her.

?

"What did you hope to gain from meeting with us Mandolin Snow?" He asked the young woman as Nine tapped away at the datastore. "How did you guaranty your own safety before coming here?" He spread his hands. "For all you know is based on what we were, not what we are now. Who's to say our voyage here hasn't changed us into something worse than this Dominus?"
 
Something here just didn't seem right - it was too neat, too convenient. Besides, they'd just seen evidence (if it could be called that) that this Dominus could bend others to his will as easily as Betty could. "For all we know, you've been sent here by Dominus to keep us occupied while he moves into position to capture us, or finish the job he started back," he waved a hand absently "there." 

"I, uh... I hadn't thought about that."  From her demeanor, it was clear that she truly hadn't.  Smart she was, yes, but not much for being inobvious.  "You... I mean, you're the good guys, right?"

Deflated, she admitted, "I see your point.  I really don't know you beyond the characters I have in my head from the stories I thought weren't real." 

She thought about it and said, "I'm already involved, through the box.  If you're real, then Dominus is real, and if I have to choose a side then I'm choosing you.  He's as evil as they come, and even if you are evil, well, you're certainly the lesser of the two."

Tom looked at Nine. "Have you been able to access her information? Can you verify any of this?" 

Nine paused a moment, pursing his lips in thought. When he responded, the intelligence behind his eyes and in his speech allowed Mandy to easily translate and smooth over the minor speech impediment his unique physiology forced on him. "While I have no memory of the events portrayed in the 'chronolog', there is certain corraborative evidence in the individual files to make the story plausible. Certainly, I've found no record in the general data store we found to indicate this place has the level of technology nor the understanding of the genetic sciences to produce someone like me, for example. Nor, aside from certain fiction sources, is there evidence of abilities similar to those each of you have. 

The chronolog did indicate that whatever damage had been done to the targeting protocols caused Dominus's own arrival to predate ours significantly. The information I found on the data store regarding our chief antagonist, BlacKnight Industries, though speculative and considered fantastic, does lend credence to Miss Snow's tale. If forced, I would have to say that the background provided in this chronolog, is most likely correct and while not the whole story, at least provides us a basis to work with." 

"If this is all correct," Al mused, not really speaking to anyone, "then Dominus is in charge of BlacKnight.  He sent those men to apprehend us, knowing that we must arrive at that date in that location.  He clearly needs us alive, otherwise they would not have toyed with us as they did.  He found us there because he knew we would be there.  You found us here and I do not believe you have fully explained that yet, Miss.  You know of Betty's abilities.  She can make you tell us anything we want to know.  Now. In due time, you will explain how you found us and who else would be able to do the same."

Mandy looked around the suite, her eyes finally returning to Al's.  "Who's Betty?"

Tom pointed at Betty. "She is." 

"The chronolog." Ghost really was ready to slap the woman. "Who is this other person who has it? Does anyone else know that you--or they--have it?"

"My friend owns the box, like I said," Mandy answered.  "She's not as quick as I am to get involved, so I didn't tell her I was coming here.  But she knows that I have access to the chronolog and everything else.  Like I said, I'm a technologist."

"Look, I understand that you're probably confused and angry and maybe even a little paranoid, okay?  But if I wanted to turn you in I could have done that already.  The cops will be looking for you but it will take them a long time to find you here - you really did a decent job of covering your tracks once you ditched the car.  As long as you stop using those," she suggested, pointing to Ghost's cell phone, "You'll be fine.  I found you by scanning all mobile transmissions and running them against a search algorhythm.  That's harder than you think in a city like this and the cops can't do it, even with the Patriot Act; but eventually someone's going to figure it out, and it probably won't be the cops."

"I can help you set up a really secure communications network," she offered somewhat timidly, unsure from their reactions if her help was desired or even welcome.  "I'm here to help, really."

Nine narrowed his eyes and met Mandy's gaze steadily. "What parameters did you use in your search?" He asked determined to find where the weakness in his defenses were. By rights the phones should have been untraceable.

"I didn't use any," she explained to the orang.  "I didn't have to.  I can monitor all EM emissions in a given area and parse it down and down until I find what I want.  First I start with wireless digital broadband, then voice carrier transmissions, then I apply a filter that looks for certain patterns in speech, vocabulary, and so on.  It took me almost a full day before I picked up your communications network.  Once I did that, breaking into it was simple."

"Now if Dominus and BlacKnight are connected, they might try something similar.  They have access to the state-of-the-art hardware required.  But they won't find you because you isolated your network off the tower grid - that was absolutely brilliant, by the way - and nobody's figured out how to make that work for more than a minute or two until now so they probably won't think of it.  But my hardware doesn't rely on the tower grid, it just takes in every signal within range.  Even the agencies can't do that yet."

As she talked about the technology and topics much more familiar to her, the young woman seemed to gain confidence.  Nine had a growing sense that this impressively bright and innovative person, while not nearly as intelligent as he, was something of a kindred spirit. 

"Very interesting. I hadn't thought of that aspect, though what I'd been able to research regarding the technology behind the devices, indicated an inherent encryption in the signal that should have rendered that type of interception highly improbable, nigh impossible without taps on the actual devices themselves." Nine replied. "Without constructing an entirely new communications network, which I lack the materials and facilities to do at the moment, what suggestions do you have to protect against such a tactic again?"

"And," Tom added before the young woman could answer. "where else might our ignorance be hurting us? For example, the transports have numbering on them, as well as some sort of tickets or something in the viewports. Who view these, and how often? And do they tie the transport to the owner? Do they actively transmit locations? Can this places systems betray us? Is the population monitored via those things," he pointed at the datastore that the woman held in her lap. "There are so many things, so many little errors that we might be making unknowingly."

He was about to say more but stopped, lips pursed. Nine... Nine had said that this world didn't have the technology to make people like himself. He looked at the ape and wondered what that might mean. "I don't claim to understand much of what you two are talking about. But if we were some sort of cabal or resistance, I'd rather not re-imagine our last confrontation with Dominus on his terms... but rather our own." He turned his gaze on the girl. "We're going to need you." 

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(GM: At this point, all players should familiarize themselves with the 'Meanwhile' posts #1 through #5.  Yes, even you, Vic. One through four will be described in the materials Mandy will show you.  Five she'll have to explain on her own, third-hand.  I'll still have to provide certain details but your character's knowledge base should be assumed to include this information now.)