Chiro starts to search the cabin. He discovers there is a crumpled skeleton on the floor by the engine room door, dressed in the tatters of a camoflage suit. The skeleton grips an odd-looking handgun in its bony fist. Chiro notes that some of the strapped-in skeletons are missing chunks of their midsection, the holes looking charred.
E.V.A. and Roach look about as well. E.V.A. was just about to investigate one of the moving picture panels when she detects a faint speech pattern buried in the hissing static of the musak and train delay message.
Faint voice:
Roach and Chiro search the skeleton gripping the strange gun. The gun has an odd look to it, its end not open, but rather a colored crystal point. There is no clip area, but there seems to be a way to load it from the back.
The skeleton has a crumbling wallet with two plastic cards in it. One card has a faded picture of a nondescript Pure Strain Human with spooky eyes embossed on it. Two round crystals are in its pocket. A smashed piece of machinery with small earphone buds attached lies nearby. In one pocket is a faded folded yellowed piece of paper that has some obscure ranting dialog about how Humanity is destroying the Earth and that a group called the Nihilism Front will save the world from its "vermin lords".
E.V.A. continues to try and decipher the faint voice
Faint voice:
Chiro remembers hearing about these types of weapons. They are sometimes known as lasers, sometimes blasters. The back of the handgun opens up and a crystal fits into it. The weapon fires a beam of coherent light. The crystals can contain multiple shots. They were relatively common in the age of nanotechnology, but are rare these days because their ammo is impossible to manufacture with basic tech.
The lights flicker and dim in the cabin, the musak and announcement stuttering. E.V.A. estimates that the trains power system is too corroded to maintain itself. The boost she gave it will probably be gone in a few minutes. She hears one small piece of dialog in the static
Faint voice(s?):
E.V.A. dives into her audio files and discovers a noise reduction algorithm that could conceivably pick out the faint trace. She runs it through her aural programming and the voice's audibility increases.
Faint Voice:
It sounds to E.V.A. as if a crowded room of people are arguing somewhere. She can pick out four separate voices.
The power in the Maglev begins to dim. The narrow cabin is plunged into darkness for a moment, then the lights rise again, but to only a shadow of their former brilliance. The monitors stutter, the picture freezing on a smiling human male holding one of the white shperes in his hand. One of the monitors winks out, leaving a blank wall behind.
Eva finishes recording the message so she can look at it later, she will then adjust her senses for the darkvison and radar pings. she states to the group, "If we rest here and I can download somemore files I can power this machine properly"
Eva's senses:
This sensor system includes hi-definition video sensors with darkvision (out to 120 feet), acoustic audio sensors, a chemical vapor scanner, pressure sensors, and multiband radar that uses multiple concurrent radar signals in different frequencies to gather more data.
The group walks back through the darkness with little problem back up the ridge to the refugee camp. They find it in a tizzy. The pillar of flame has stirred up both the refugees and the native Flordans quite a bit. The reappearance of the Motorola family and the strange tale they have told has only increased the chaos. The group finds itself surrounded by curious folks as they emerge on the road.
"Did you fight a demon?"
"Was it a mutant dog? I hate them mutant dogs."
"Was it scary?"
"What was down there?"
The questions pepper the group, until a scowling man dressed in a uniform accompanied by a squad of similarly-dressed men shoulders their way through the crowd. The man wastes little time.
"My name is Sherrif Huck Hanscombe. Can anyone tell me what the blazes is going on here? There was an earthquake tumbled several buildings in town and flame shot out of the old ruins by Pascomb's Field. You folks got any explanations?"
"Yes we do, and aren't you the heroic sheriff that led us to save these poor innocent folk from certain doom? Three cheers for the sheriff!"
The sherrif looks askance at the odd statement.
"What?"
"Volcanic eruption? I dunno. We wuz just out lookin' for 'shrooms."
The sherrif turns to Roach
"'Shrooms eh? What the tarnation is going on out here?"
Just then Fren Motorola walks up.
"Now sherrif, these folks rescued my family from some really nasty muties you had festering in one of those river valleys down yonder."
Fren points to the distant river back where the party just climbed up from.
"You should be giving these heroes a medal, not interrogating them."
A rumble of assent comes from the refugee crowd, The sherrif and his deputies look around, suddenly a bit nervous.
"That's fine then. As long as whatever is done is done and there won't be any more hijinks tonight I think we can all jest go on back to sleep. C'mon boys."
The sherrif and his deputies shoulder their way back out of the crowd and head back towards Florda. A few catcalls pepper their backs as they leave.
Fren turns to the group
"You folks did good, an' you have my thanks once again."
Roach watches the sherrif leave with some relief. "Thanks, Fren. I think you just saved us a night in the pokey. For some reason, it makes me smile a bit that their houses tumbled down. But I was always a jackass."
He turns to the crowd. "Turns out there was a Twitchy Man - it was a 'shroom-mutant-thing that kidnapped people and turned them into even weirder 'shroom-monsters. Thing is, though, that we blew up the tech-stuff that it lived in - the Twitchy Man is dead and buried under millions of tons of rock, but there might be some radiation after that pillar of fire. If I were you, I'd pack up and move on. Florda Town is a dump anyway, full of inbred rednecks, not worth stayin' around for."
The crowd of refugee folks end up treating the group to free food and drink in exchange for their story. The story is impressive enough that Coca has his choice of feminine companionship for the night. After a good celebration, the group gets some well deserved sack time.
The morning dawns warm and sticky, as Joon days in the Berks usually do. The group all awake, slightly hungover but ready to move on towards Nu Ork.
It seems a lot of refugees are taking Roach's advice and are moving on. There is a flurry of activity, watched sourly by Sherrif Hanscombe and his posse. The road East beckons. Next will be Grenfield, then the mysterious nation known as the Happy Valley Collectivist State.
The group saddles up their mounts the following morning and join the refugee caravan moving eastwards down through the final mountains of the Berksh. They soon outdistance most of the slower wagons and are riding alone down the rutted trail.
The group heads to the next town of Shel. The winding Deerf River chickles next to them as the road they follow descends off the mountaintops and begins to follow the narrow valley.
The group has not seen many Golden Times structures about, but even at the height of the Merican Empire this area was sparsely settled. As they move east they see more forgotten buildings on bluff tops and along the road. Most look fairly picked over.
After two days of uneventful travel the group arrives at the small burg called Shel.. The town doesn't have much, but it is stuffed with folks headed east. Unlike Florda, Shel seems to be taking a more proactive helpful stance. A small orderly tent city has been constructed on the outskirts, and there is a large HVCS van parked within with various bots and droids assisting the refugees. A building along Shel's main street sports a sign that reads: Refugee information and resupply.. There is a long line outside its enterance. Another building sports another type of sign: The Valley Spring Inn. This building is also packed, and the sound of old-time electronic-type music filters out of it.
Eva scrutinised the strange weapon that Chiro found she manipulates, it and even takes some of it apart, she shares what she discovers to the group.
Craft(mechanical)=21
Craft (Electronic)=18
Knowledge(technology)=14
Knowledge(Arcane Lore)=22
Repair=35
Research=13 .
Roach finds the Sherrif's office right on Shel's main drag. The building is in good repair, and several young folks dressed in working clothes with tin stars pinned to their chests come and go in and out of the entrance. Roach steps in and sees an older gent giving orders to various others.
"We need a patrol out west today, might be more wagons out there. Jeoff round up a posse and ride out. Horv, see if those 'bots from Happy Valley will send for some more relief supplies."
The man looks up at Roach. He is a mutant, the mottled green skin and facial keloid growths attest to that. He wears a nice cowboy hat with a snakeskin band and a leather duster jacket. A businesslike pair of pistols are holstered at his hips. A brass star gleams on his faded chambray shirt.
"What can I do yeh for mister?" He inquires, looking Roach up and down.