Session 02 – Improvised weapons
In Genesis Toroid, the asteroid belt space station nicknamed by its visitors "The Steering Wheel", the police are busy interrogating the main suspects of the recent hammer murders. CIA agent Russ Quinn also wants to speak to Janus Alkers and Domingo Flores.
Kenny Bourbon does not deny killing the three "Spunks" who molested him and Hundo Mc. Leary at the slushy stand and attempts to convince his police interrogators that the killing was, at worst, manslaughter. Hundo, also in custody, convinces the police he was a mere bystander at the scene of the crime and that he even paid for the slushies he took to try to appease the "Spunks". The police release Hundo from custody, although the heavily-augmented man waits in the front of the station, in case he's needed to provide further evidence.
Special Agent Russ Quinn demands to know from Janus what her connection is to Boris Goncharov, the Soviet the CIA have under active surveillance. Quinn says he’s seen footage of Janus swapping briefcases with Goncharov. Janus counters that the briefcases are similar, easily confused and that it was an honest mistake. As Domingo Flores picked up the ‘hot’ briefcase and tried returning it to Janus (at least, that's his story) the CIA grill him, too.
Between interviews and interrogations, the police lock Janus, Domingo and Kenny up in the station’s holding cells. These single-occupancy units face onto a common corridor, so the three meet Owen Dunda, an Australian contractor with a bionic eye and meet once again Isaac Victor, the cultist Hundo stunned in The Concourse after the zealot shot a sectarian rival. Whilst the cultist spouts a confusing cocktail of classical religion and Enderman prophecy, Janus, Domingo and Kenny piece together that Owen got drunk and started a fight with the gang of Spunks, hence his arrest, and that the same hoodlums must have tangled with Kenny in the aftermath. No wonder Hundo could not calm them down with more slushies!
More cultists slam the doors of the station's front desk area open. They brandish automatic weapons and demand the release of Isaac Victor. Hundo wants no part of this and does his best to fade into the shadows. Beat police, some of whom were those who interrogated Kenny and Hundo, storm from the cell-area to deal with the cultists. Hundo is positioned just so that he can peek beyond the station's doors and see the cultists' leader. This figure is sitting cross-legged and floating a good three feet in the air. The hovering guru gestures and the inbound cops themselves are lifted from the ground, some of them dropping their weapons in confusion as they tumble in mid air.
Three of the armed cultists exploit the cops' predicament and force their way into the cell area. They show no interest in Janus, Kenny, Domingo or Owen and set about freeing their comrade, the Concourse Killer. Kenny sees an opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of the law and pours flammable oil around the feet of the zealots, through the bars of his cell. From the opposite side of the corridor, Janus lights the oil, turning the would-be liberators into shrieking torches. She's also cracked the lock of her cell and frees herself, Kenny, Domingo and Owen. In the front desk area, Hundo hauls a floating officer back to the ground, defying whatever metaphysical powers the cultist outside is wielding. The cop grabs his gun and shoots the zealots' leader. The remaining cultists break, hauling their stricken prophet to safety.
Kenny's plan more or less works in that the cops agree to let the suspects go, on condition that none of them leaves Genesis Toroid and that Kenny faces trial in a few days' time. The unlikely team get access to a safe house from the police, although this is in a scummy layer of The Steering Wheel, where the gravity is not quite strong enough to be convincing.
Before braving the safe house and its neighbourhood, Domingo returns to his quarters to receive a much-loved houseplant. Janus does much the same, except she is greeted by a Soviet soldatbot. The commies have tried to camouflage the bot with a white paint-job and even some clothes, presumably to get it into Janus' quarters. However, Janus, having seen many such automatons before, recognises the soldatbot for what it is immediately. The face of the battle-bot opens, revealing a crude screen.
The typed message the Soviets have sent reads:
We know, you have been talking with police. Forget about nuclear weapons, for now. New task is here. Find out what Dr. Cory Telkratzer is doing in his lab. Don't trust Americans, they are involved. It could be dangerous if you mention Telkratzer's work directly. Use local, expendable helpers for backup if force is necessary.
To agree, click your fingers three times in front of droid. If not, droid will terminate you. Soviet Union does not accept agents that are compromised.
Janus duly claps and hurries to join the others.
The safe house turns out to be "The Private Shop": a sex-shop run by an undercover cop. As the five settle in upstairs, Domingo peers out the window and sees the self-same cultists from the police station - less the ones crisped in the cells - proselytising in an open area surrounded by buildings. A crowd has gathered around the cultists, who are handing out leaflets. In the middle of all this, the zealots' prophet floats in lotus position, as proof of the cult's other-worldly claims. The safe-house crew reason that infiltrating the cult and stopping it from causing more harm could increase their shaky standing on The Steering Wheel, besides saving lives in general. The five draw lots, with Janus and Owen picking the two shortest.
The two do their best to ingratiate themselves with the cult. However, its members surprise Janus and Owen by responding with suspicion: what are the two prepared to do for the cult and have they had the visions which non-believers dismiss as delusions of the Ender man cult? Whilst Janus and Owen grapple with these questions, another cult sect brings inter-faith violence back onto the scene. Its leader is crowned with a mane of fire and he blasts flames from his hands at the rival, wind prophet. Janus is caught in the surge and is badly burned. She sprints for the safety of the back of a wheelie bin. Otherwise unarmed, Kenny and Hundo grab the most threatening items they can find from the shelves of the sex shop and run to the aid of their companions. The five take the fire cultists by surprise and in the blink of an eye, Hundo has the fire prophet incapacitated, with Hundo’s sword arm at the zealot's throat.
The floating-air sect exploit their new advantage and kill or rout the remaining fire cultists. It looks like the five now have their "in".