Packmind Tactics part 1 - RPLOG
Participants
Date
31/5/2013
Log
A human RSX agent, wearing an armani suit, what you would guess is clean underwear, and a badge labeled "Creed", introduces himself as the group files into a laboratory room. There's a round table set up inside for discussion, and each of you who is small enough to utilize one is offered a seat. For those not-so-small, the room is adequately sized to accomidate for your frame at least--just no seating arrangments for the particularly draconic. He nods, "I thank you for your prompt arrival. As some of the field operatives present are intimately aware, recent incursions into Oregon have led to almost unilaterally disasterous results. Agents have been inflicted with the packmind nanite strain, passing beyond our measures of correction. This strain of nanite is highly infectious--even going so far as to buypass such measures as a Native Resistance Adjuster. Our purpose here is to assertain *why*, from field evident and through scientific discovery. You have all been recruited because of your unique knowledge, training, or special insights into the matters of packminds, medicine, and nanoscience. If you would, please introduce yourselves. My name is Creed, and I will be the director of this investigation."
Herma was still shivering a bit from all that crazy as all madcap riot like shit that happend. But she at least had her eyes focussed. "I've actually got to see one mercenary who managed to cure herself of the infection as it was taking hold. Unfortunately, It was really more of an act of god that it happened."
Standing behind an empty chair, the draconic woman crossed her arms in front of her chest. 'Insight my ass.' Looking over the others, she nodded to those she knew. Some of them had been in the trouble they had cook up down south earlier. They got lucky then. "Glein Herrick." She said to those who didn't know her. "Part of the reinforcement team sent south. That wasn't a pleasant experience."
Harbringer cocks her shotgun and lowers it under her cloak. She gives a big cheshire grin, patting her gray tome "Harbringer, Necromancy specialist." She yips, putting her hand on her chin "I kinda was there when the humvee crashed and those crazy fox things came out of the blue." She lowers her arms and looks around at the others "Well, i'll try to help if i can."
As Edel makes her way into the room, she graciously accepts the offer of the seat. Sitting in it is a bit of a problem, as her eyes just barely come above the edge of the table, so she opts to stand in the chair, instead. "I am Edel! Arms manufacturer. I've got some personal experience with the packminds, though I'm no expert!"
Angus leaned over the back of the seat, a smile flashing on his muzzle as he looked at the others. "Angus....you could say I'm a close quarters and marksman specialist." He chuckled, patting the revolver strapped to his hip. "As to my experience with the packminds well. I've been in one of them." His tail swayed lightly behind him as he looked around, wondering who else would be joining the party.
Rorne stands behind an empty chair, resting hir beak on hir fingers between the knuckle and first joint, nodding as each person makes their introduction. When it's hir turn, sie gasps and blinks a couple times. Sie then says, after a short pause, "I'm Rorne. I'm a Combat Medic with some deep knowledge of biology in general." Sie looks at the others present, adding, "I may not have seen, or even be able to imagine, what you have gone through, but I can try to figure out how these nanites do what they do."
Zemura fidgets slightly, clearly nervous around her new company. In a meager attempt to speak, she ends up coughing as she trips up on her own words. It takes her a few seconds to compose herself before she clears her throat. "I'm Zemura. I specialize in research and I have a provlivity for medicine. I was recently informed about the infection, so I'm afraid I don't have a lot of information to share." Looking around the room, examining the faces of her onlookers, she sits back down, lowering her ears a little.
Last but not least, a semi-formally dressed silver lion strides into the room with a proud flair. Upon his back resides a common looking shotgun. Perhaps more interesting however are the strange looking grenades attached to the brim of his pants. "Greetings ladies and gentleman," he says with a bow, "My name's Dio, part of the original team sent to explore Oregon. I usually leave this up to the science types, but I believe I have some ideas you may find interesting." Dio reaches out a large hand to grab a seat, but pauses as he notices a familiar coyote. "Hmmm," he mumbles, leaning over Angus and giving him a solid poke, as if trying to pierce through a potential hologram. "Angus? Is that really you?"
Creed looks to Herma, "You say that you saw an agent cured by some sort of miracle? Can you elaborate? Which deity was this, and who was the agent? What did you see?" Turning to Glenn and Harbringer, he nods, "That was a tragedy which we hope to prevent from occuring again. When agents were infected, that you saw, how rapidly did the infections take hold and how did they manifest?" indicating Angus, "As Angus attests, there are reports of agents managing to survive an attack without being totally lost to the packmind... Of course, returning them to the packmind bubble would perhaps rob them of their sanity. It seems that exposure to the packmind bubble is needed..." Looking to Edel and Zemura, "We are in definate need of people with your expertise in medicine. We suspect science holds the key to this problem... And at least, we will investigate that option first. That is why we are here."
Creed looks to Edel, "I am afraid none of us are experts, yet. This is a new problem which we are trying to solve. Could you tell us more about your personal experience? Were you involved in one of the Oregon raids?"
Angus pokes Dio right back, in the nose. "No, this is one of those dreams where you find out your not wearing any pants. Of coures it's me." He shook his head, trying not to laugh at Dio as he did. "Um....to be technical. I didn't survive the attack, Dio can attest to that." He didn' remember all of the details, but thanks to his nightmares he could piece together what happened to him at least.
Herma softly churrls, "Well, Her name is Kori and she is a devote believer of one of those supernatural things I've heard about. Uhhh... Somthing to do with cats I think. While some were changing fast, others were changing slowly., she was changing even slower still. I think it was either an act of god, or a boon provided by the god to the follower that saved her. So... yeah... Magic.""
Edel rubs the back of one of her ears. "I was briefly there to help wrap up the wolves, I was later sent to help a Human settlement with a group of foxes." She folds her arms and tips her head. "That is about it, yes."
Harbringer shrugs, looking around "Well, i saw a couple people get attacked by those critters and i'v not seen any of them as of yet." She tilts her head, deciding on if she should talk about the strange girl with the puppet. Finally, she decides to share a bit "There was this girl with a puppet who was doing some crazy shit with a doll....." She mumbles before slowly moving further back.
Zemura perks her ears up. "Magic, huh? In any case, she's changing slower than the others and that might be a key point to solving this." She gets up, pacing around in a circle. "If we can get our hands on a sample of the strain, we might find out something important." Her eyes light up into a pleading expression.
Dio's head recoils back slightly, pushed back like a miniature bobble head and snapping back into place to focus upon his target. His intimidating eyes stare down and analyze the coyote, almost piercing through his coat if he tried hard enough.
"No pants, eh? That happened to me once," he murmurs with a hint of laughter, finally sitting down in a wonderful lumbar supporting chair. "I suppose you remember then, huh? Guess the only thing I can say is... Sorry."
The lion reaches towards the side of his pants and plucks out a grenade, holding it in front of his eyes and rotating it. "I've found two fine way to temporarily rid of packmind fingers. Perhaps you'll find them useful if you haven't read the reports already."
Rorne shakes hir head, muttering something about a biologist. Sie looks to those who have brought up their experiences in Oregon and the Packmind, remaining silent. Sie merely stood there, hir gaze shifting from person to person as they spoke, piecing together what sie could. Sie then pressed hir middle and fore fingers on hir right hand to hir forehead, sighing a little in frustration. Sie then mutters, "Biological knowledge would be much more helpful with first-hand experience." Looking over to Zemura and Herma, sie responds, "I don't put much stock into magic, honestly. In any case, we'd want to find an explanation behind the differing speeds of transformation between the infected individuals."
"There is no need to apologize, whats done is done." Angus responded to Dio, his gaze still locked forward as everyon started to speak. He sighed, hearing something about possibly getting a sample of the packmind which caused him to grin. "You said you need a sample? Because I can honestly supply you with one." He said plainly, shrugging as he tried to follow the conversation.
Craig nods, "Information is short at the moment, but we do have some baselines to test against. Some agents, in fact, do appear to have some natural resiliance to packmind infections." looking to Angus, "Yes, a sample would be helpful, if you would provide one. We mind find commonalities or new information. We have an idea of how long you were under the affects within the packmind bubble.
Herma softly churrls, "I know, it doesn't sound very solid and much like a superstition. But there used to be studies in the 90's about how faith healing alone didn't do anything, but prayers still seemed to give people a better chance at the hospital. Didn't even have to be mainstreem religion, Voodoo would work ... though Scientology actually seemed to have nagative effects on a person's survival."
"There are two strains of this. Wolf and Fox. Myself and 4 others were in the reinforcement packet for the original team, and we'd been afflicted with the Wolf strain after our HMMWV crashed due to overwhelming numbers." Glein said, looking at the others. "We have learned that Wolf and Fox strains hate each other with a passion at the nanite level. That's how myself and those others afflicted were spared the horror of being absorbed into the Wolf Mind."
Edel scratches her chin and offers a shrug. "I couldn't tell you much about the packmind itself, on a... Specific level. Just a few things I've noted being around them, which are pretty obvious to any observer. I should hope."
Craig nods to Glein, "Interesting... So you actually used the fox nanites to overwhelm the wolf nanites? But did that not leave you infected by the fox instead?"
Craig asks of the group, "Would any of those cured by the fox nanites be willing to provide samples, as well? It would be good to investigate the results.
Harbringer decides to pull up a small notebook and pulls up a pen, attempting to jot down some small details and such while everyone else talks, scratching her chin for a moment before continuing to scribble down into the pad.
"Good!" Dio shouts slightly in excitement, accidentally dropping the grenade within his firm hands upon the table with a loud metallic CLINK. "I'm glad there aren't any hard feelings of the matter," he murmurs as he fumbles for the grenade. "But this object here in question you may find interesting." Dio rolls the grenade towards Creed, letting out a loud cough as he continues. "That device there is a Nanite grenade or whatever they're calling it these days. If loaded with a potent vial, detonating it within a packmind finger's presence will cause it to instantly goop into the ground. A very interesting method to rid of many wolves quickly. Please take it into consideration, as I've tried it twice in the field with great results." The chair beneath him squeaks ever so slightly as the lion leans back in his chair, a gentle sigh from his muzzle with hints of concentration. "You guys were talking about that person who cleansed himself, right? I enjoy looking into matters of the arcane from time to time and I have a theory. It's almost as if something's PUSHING those nanites out. Those dedicated to the supernatural seem to change to their respective form regardless of infection. There's something to this that could help cleanse an infection."
Angus nodded to Craig as he started to concentrate a little, a small amount of bimass falling to the floor beside him unseen by others. Slowly the mass started to change and take form, before a fully naked second Angus now stood right behind Dio's chair. "As I said, I could provide you with a sample of packmind tissue." The first Angus stated. "Buttttt, I didn't say exactly where it would come from. Now would it?" The second Angus teased, both of them smiling at the group.
Creed looks over the grenade, "Interesting. When you say that they turned to goo, did they regenerate back into wolves? Or were they permanently eradicated? If you do not know for certain, that is fine--I'm looking for solid information on that regard, because *dead* versus *slowed down* is a big difference with these." Creed looks to Rorne and Zemura, "The packmind nanite strain appears to be highly infectious--capable of fighting off any competitor. What would you hypothesise allows for this aggressive nature? (Medicine or Computer, or both. Others may also roll)
"I am infected with the Fox strain. And we didn't use the fox strain ourselves. They were... Offered to us by some of those who were part of hte Fox mind." Glein states. Shuddering at the memory. "And I'm the only person of the HMMWV team that's here currently. So I'll only one of us able to provide a samble."
Zemura ponders the question before speaking up. "Personally, I'd prefer to have both methods in use. The more ways to find a cure, the better. Besides, it would be more productive to collaborate." She then approaches Angus, staring curiously at hir. Realizing that she's being impolite, she breaks eye contact and continues, "Very... Interesting ability. How would you propose getting the strain from your double here?"
"From what I've seen," Dio returns, nodding at Creed, "It simply goo's the wolves in mass and causes them to return. This is much better than a normal grenade, as you may saftly detonate it within your hands and not get blown up in the process! In future expeditions, please consider bringing these weapons." Dio sniffs around the room, feeling a strange presence that's perhaps right behind him. However, he simply shrugs and continues his conversation. "However, that's not the strongest method I've found to eliminate packminds in the field. From practice, it would seem if a packmind finger is cut off from nanite communications, they instantly turn to goop. In the most recent expedition around the courthouse," he says, moving his hands animatedly as he speaks, "I used a form of Anti-nanomagic called Counter Nanomagic and eliminated an entire pack in one go. No bubble, no infection, no wolves or foxes. If your science team could devise a way to make an anti-bubble much like anti-nanomagic, you'll have a powerful weapon on your hands."
Herma softly churrls, "Hey I remember that... I was a horse at the time I think."
Harbringer grins, ears flickering as she overhears the conversations and writes down more notes. Slowly, she looks back at her notes and noticed, she'd been drawing pictures of her book the whole time "Well, that was a waste of time." she mumbles to herself before turning back to the others. The vixen stands up and pads closer again, sitting down at the back.
"Why, by taking a tissue sample of course. Considering that these one is just a walking collection of biomass goo." The naked Angus explained to Zemura, not minding the staring at all as he smiled. "Oh hey Dio, whats that behind you by the way?" The Orginal commented, walking over to the otherside of the table. "Don't forget that the packminds also have a limitation on how far their links to the fingers can travel....I've experimented with the distance that I'm able to control this one, and have found out that I start to lose control about about 20 feet. Any further then that and the finger goes back to just a puddle of unused biomass really..."
Zemura reaches into her pack and withdraws a syringe, a vial and a cloth. "Simple enough. I'll need to prepare a bit first." She gazes toward the clone. "Make yourself comfortable, this should only take a few minutes."
Creed nods to Dio, "Indeed. That's impressive work. Ultimately, our first hope is for something preventative. Curative would be optimal, but preventative is the most reasonable expectation for the first step in the process.
Edel seats herself in the chair, brow furrowed in concentration. Enough so that she doesn't seem to mind being practically under the table for the moment. "If I had to guess... It's that maybe they're capable of rewiring opposing nanites to work with them, instead of just brute forcing them out of the equation? Maybe they're just really good at getting rid of opposing nanites, but if they can convert them, instead, then... Then there would be no competition at all. Just more help, and more nanites to work with."
Rorne looks to Creed, resting hir left hand off to the right of hir abdomen, with hir beak resting atop the knuckles of hir right hand, hir right elbow over hir left hand. As he asked, sie responds, "Honestly, it sounds no dissimilar from a virus, either computer and biological, and most likely spreads by self-replication. Not exactly sure what it's better at between replication or the destruction of the host, but, in either case, it goes much more rapidly than any infection or virus I know of."
"Huh," Dio murmurs, broken out of a slight trance as he looks towards Angus. "Something behind m- WHAT!?" The lion spins around in his chair and leans back an arm to deliver a powerful punch! It zooms towards the finger, but stops only inches away. "Oh... You can control these things?" The fist finally unclenches and returns to his person, rubbing lightly at his mane as an embarrassed expression grows upon his face. "Nice chest. A little on the small side though." With a loud cough, Dio turns back around and continues his conversation with Creed. "Indeed. Perhaps getting more people with anti-nanomagic would be helpful, but having a device would help the efforts when I'm not around or someone else with the ability."
Harbringer pats her book and leans into it, listening to something from it "Well, how am i supposed to do that?" She whispers to the tome. "Okay, these people need me less than i thought they did....love you too." she continues before leaning in and kissing the front cover "Uh, excuse me....Something came up and i'v been asked to assist in a situation." With a final sigh, she adds her concluding notes "This whole packmind thing is probably a disease of sorts. Best to find a vaccine fore it." Before giving a curtsey, and quietly attempting to sneak out of the room.
Shaking her head, she couldn't help but wonder about why she was here beyond her 'lucky' infection. "Sir, other than getting a sample from myself, is there anything special I'm here for?"
"Take your time, as there is no hurry." The finger replyed the Finger, who then gave Dio a curious look as a fist nearly impacts its skull. "Yes. I can control one of these things, and what do you mean on the small side?" It asked, before it bopped him on the head lightly. "Unfortunatly controling a finger is rather stressful, as I not only control it's body but I have to control every aspect of it." Angus commented as he walked back over to sit next to Dio. "Not th mention a few other things that occupy my cocentration....."
Herma grunted in agreement with Rorne "as far as I could say... well I guess the best I can describe the packminds is that the vorocious nanites of them just eat your nanites and everything else in your body up like ants over a plate of sugar. Then rebuilds the body into another part of it. In short it's a lot like all it's members are like computers infected with a Worm-type virus, like Rorne said."
Herma then rubbed the back of hir head as sie thoguth about things more "I think after the Fox-hive cleand the wolf-hive out of the victims, it let them go by closing turning off. The proverbial program is there, but like my computer's virus scanner it just isn't being used at the moment. And like all nanite infections, reinfection is possible. We should test Kori to see if she is really free of the wolf-packmind. In computer terms I think she just went straingt into the rootket directory and somehow juryrigged a rootkit removal tool."
Herma softly churrls, "Yeah... I'm just as confused as I sound."
Rorne glances over at Edel, nodding and affirming, "I'm quite sure that's how they work, honestly. Some computer viruses, and even some biological ones, make the host work for it as well. On top of that, with how fast they could replicate in that regard, it easily becomes be very difficult to remove them: It would grow exponentially more difficult to remove from the host as time went on. Even then, another problem arises: Computer viruses can hide, making it very difficult to find them unless you know what you're looking for. If nanites can do that, with all the other possible actions they could be taking, it could be extremely difficult to defeat this." Sie shakes hir head, adding, "When the infection begins, they could hide and be hard to find for anything, either destroying or turning any opposition. From there, they replicate exponentially to become the dominant force in the host. As for preventing someone from getting infected, the only thing I can say for sure right now is simple: You can't get infected if you don't come into contact with it." Looking back at Creed, sie then states, "Anyway, that's what I think. I can't be certain unless I actually see the Packmind nanites at work."
