[rednblack]

"Chino votes to break it apart. It would take some time - I don't know if we'd need to use an elemental like Chino suggests or if we'd have to use something explosive cooked up by Sam. In theory it should work, and I'm pretty good working with magical objects but..." Her voice trails off, somewhat in awe. "This thing is on another level. It would be like asking a Civil War doctor to remove a cyberarm from a troll. You can do it clumsily, but to do it cleanly... It's just so much more advanced than anything we've made in the Sixth World..."

"We don't need an elemental to break it down, just to make our friendship bracelets," Chino says.  "As for breaking it down," he gives a back kick, splintering a tree behind him, "just let me have a go at knocking its hoop off."

Ace tears into his dinner.  He's careful to show that he's enjoying the food, though not as much as some of her better and more wholesome prepared meals.  It must be some habit that he developed as a corper kid: "Yeah, mom, this soy pizza's great, but it's nothing like that dinner you made from scratch last week.  That was wiz."

In between bites, he makes his thoughts known on breaking down the obelisk.  "My only concern with separating it is the world-ending consequences . . . potentially.  I mean, what kind of probabilities are we looking at here?  60/40 or 95/5 makes a big difference.  But if we're fairly certain taht the obelisk is untraceable in its present location, maybe it'd be wise for us to bug out of here in the morning, and conduct the rest of our negotiations as far away from this thing as possible. It could be a great boon to us if we're not tied to it physically in the next few days."

[Tecumseh]

Katsina says, "We're talking 95% chance it doesn't destroy the world, 5% chance it does. Now I'm not one to gamble with the fate of the world, but in theory it should be fine. The base is inert as best we can tell, but it's the unknown unknowns that will get us. And by 'us' I mean the Earth.

"The scanner in my mask was made to scan metahumans for cyberwear so it doesn't have the wavelengths necessary to penetrate the entire base. That said, Doc and I can do some math about the size of the base, the density of the materials, and what the estimated quantities are. Then Doc can look up current market values to see if it's worth it."

She sends the scanner readings to Doc so that he can cross-reference with recent market prices.

"I don't know how this works though. I don't know anyone who melts down blended metal then separates it. I don't know how much that costs, or if it's even legal. If we go through a fixer, I don't know how much of a haircut we take. I don't know how suspicious it is to show up out of nowhere with large quantities of precious metals, and if that might make us a target in itself. We'd probably save time and attention going through a middleman, but we'd take a big hit on it. But saving time might save our lives, especially if people are looking for us."

[Poindexter]

Sam listens quietly as Ohanzee breaks down the meeting he had with the DIMR. He agrees with the team leader's assessment of events, and once the story is done, Sam grumbles. "Frag her, then." It isn't until he's addressed directly, that he actually adds anything to the conversation.

"If we decide to part the thing out, how much time would it take you to adjust your little insurance policy to fit the new form-factor?"

The massive foimor furrows his brow a bit before responding. He remains in his seat and carries a drab and defeated tone in his once booming voice. "Well, the bomb is magnetic, and attaches to the base, but as long as you leave enough of the base intact for me to stick it to, I don't think I'll need to modify anything at all." Quickly, the dwarf moves on to other topics, and before Sam goes back to looking at his own tattered aura, he leaves his gaze on the little man for a moment longer, wondering.

Has he forgotten the promise I made him in the van or has he remembered to maintain the illusion that I am still willing to blow up the world?

During another break in conversation, he pipes up between bites. "I need to go set some traps after dinner. Doc, can you make a burner comm into a radio detonator for me? There's no rush; I've got plenty of work to do before I'll need it." He takes another bite and chews while hoping no one asks too many specifics about his plan.

[Zweiblumen]

Doc listens to what the others are saying.  His concentration has been wavering, things seem to zone in and out for him.  When Katsina sends him the readout from her scan he has something to focus on, makes it easier.  "Wiz, I'll run some analysis on those readings and check the values."  He sits back after pushing his food around for a bit and gets the look of someone paying attention elsewhere as he runs through the various AR windows he has open.

His cyber-eyes come into focus when Sam brings up modifying the commlink.  Sounds like a pretty good idea to him.  "Sure, lemme finish this up, getting some interesting data here then I can rig that 'link for ya."

"So the base is really rather fascinating.  The metallurgy is centuries ahead of anything from that time.  If any of us were historians, the thought of melting this down would almost be anathema.  The numbers I have may be off due to the fact that most of the precious metals would be on the outside for decoration and presentation while the core could be more base metals, but going with what we have, it's almost 1/5th osmium... which wasn't "re-"discovered until 1803.  It is the rarest stable element in Earth's crust. And at ¥12860/kg, we've got about ¥820,645 worth of it in there.  Even with that rarity, gold is still worth more, and it's almost about 1/6th gold.  There's almost 54kg of gold in there, bringing ¥1,396,160 at todays rate.  There's almost 45kg of silver in there, but that's only ¥13k.  The rest of the material, copper, iron, silicon and mercury give us another couple of hundred nuyen worth of material.  I'll send a breakdown the team."  He goes on and on about the surprising amount of osmium and how it relates to copper, which he surmises explains the the relatively large amount of copper in the work.  The metallurgy really seems to come up again and again.  Something about how the metal must have come from somewhere near Ontario because the oldest and second largest deposit of osmium is from someplace called the Sudbury Basin.  He winds down with, "There must have been either an established trade route between the people here and locals of the Sudbury Basin in the 4th World, or this was created there and brought here later.  Either way, an impressive feat for the era."

He realizes he's been talking almost non-stop for several minutes, more like lecturing and sees everyone just sort of staring at him.  His jaw clamps shut with an audible click and he mutters something and then says, "I just thought you'd want to know more about where this probably came from.  Almost blushing, he grabs the commlink and starts dissecting it.

An hour later, he comes back and hands the device to Sam.  "This should do what you need, but due to the terrain and environment, we'll need to be within about half a klick to set it off."

[Zweiblumen]

<<@Team [Doc] metal.tbl

Element	Price per KG	Estimated KG	Value
Iron	¥0.1	71.8	¥7
Mercury	¥4.0	54.2	¥217
Silicon	¥2.5	7.7	¥19
Gold	¥26,000.0	53.7	¥1,396,160
Silver	¥290.0	44.7	¥12,963
Copper	¥5.0	28.1	¥140
Osmium	¥12,860.0	63.8	¥820,645

[Tecumseh]

Katsina alternates between listening raptly to Doc's lecture and wringing her hands. History interests her and the notion of destroying an ancient work of art for the raw material makes her visibly uncomfortable. Ohanzee's suggestion to pictures and extensive measurements helps settle her stomach down a little bit.

"The Atlantean Foundation might already have all of that, right?" Katsina laughs nervously, not quite believing that she's making a point in favor of destroying the obelisk. Always so helpful... "Wouldn't that be the first thing they would do?"

She scans the figures that Doc sends. The value of the gold and osmium were eye-popping, but Doc made a good point that the exterior might have more precious metals while the core could be more base metals. She nods, "Yeah, the middle could be marshmallow fluff for all we know. Well, not likely, given the mass, but still. We have no idea what's inside. If the hepatizon isn't just on the surface tablets, and somehow extends inside..." Her voice trails off. She takes a deep breath and completes the thought. "Well, that would be the five percent chance of this going badly."

She looks at Chino nervously, uncertain if he's going to start kicking the obelisk into smithereens right then and there. She's not going to stop him, but she might not watch either.

"Doc, Ace, Sam, what do you think?" she asks, uncertain of what she wants to hear.

[Zweiblumen]

"We've tried working with a third party on the mysticism part of this millstone.  I vote we let Chino go at the base, use Ohanzee's Fence to turn the osmium, silver and gold into capital.  Then donate the relic to a museum or school somewhere."

He runs some quick numbers.  "Assuming we get 50-60% of the value on the metals, we are looking at ¥200k-¥250k each.  While not the ¥1m each we were thinking about, still a decent amount of money to start a new life with.  How does that sound to the rest of you?"

[rednblack]

"I think that if we break up the obelisk we lose what little leverage we still have, Ace says. "If it was just the corps we may be able to slide. They could chalk up the losses, and get back to the other irons in the fire, but the cult will likely not accept a new reality, and that puts out use of the 250k in jeopardy, as we may very well not be around to enjoy it. I'm not ruling it out, but what is the possibility that we leave the obelisk concealed and go to work in Denver?"

[Poindexter]

"Doc, Ace, Sam, what do you think?" she asks, uncertain of what she wants to hear.

Looking up at his newfound mentor, Sam says quietly.

"If you're at all worried the base may be intrinsically involved, I say leave it intact. Let's keep shopping it around."

[Malevolence]

If the troll, ever the proponent of destroying the device, was advising keeping it intact, it was worth considering.


"Alright. Let's give one more shot at selling to an interested party. See what Doc turns up on Jäger - if she was on the level or not - and the other organizations. If the person we worked with was an impostor, we can try again with DIMR. If she was Jäger but was trying to pull a fast one with her comments on the other local heads, we can open up the bidding or pick a specific target based on what Doc finds. If everything she said was true, we can try shopping to Ares or come back with our tail between our legs and see if she'll still take it for ¥1-2m."

"Either way, Katsina's right - the AF should have a detailed analysis of the object that might have some indication as to whether they believe the precious metals to be solid or just a gilding. And perhaps some thoughts on how important the base is to the magic of the artifact. On the astral it seems that the base is inert, but that doesn't mean much - just as earth will hide an astral signature, if the magical elements were encased in gold and other precious metals, it would mask the aura. As bright as the top shines, the dimming doesn't have to be absolute to make it appear inert by contrast."

"One last option is to simply drop it off on the doorstep of the DIMR with Sam's present attached and then they can decide whether it's worth a few million for us to not blow it up. They can have whoever they want inspect it but we set the time limit. I don't want to negotiate that way, but we've got our own bats if they insist on playing hardball."

[rednblack]

"One last option is to simply drop it off on the doorstep of the DIMR with Sam's present attached and then they can decide whether it's worth a few million for us to not blow it up. They can have whoever they want inspect it but we set the time limit. I don't want to negotiate that way, but we've got our own bats if they insist on playing hardball."

Ace turns his head sharply to regard Ohanzee at the final suggestion.  Cold, calculated, it was the strategy of the terrorist, and in a way it was brilliant.  "I'm not sure that we have the time at our disposal to reach an acceptable success rate, but I like it.  Let's work on it as a plan B to our plan D."

[Zweiblumen]

"One last option is to simply drop it off on the doorstep of the DIMR with Sam's present attached and then they can decide whether it's worth a few million for us to not blow it up. They can have whoever they want inspect it but we set the time limit. I don't want to negotiate that way, but we've got our own bats if they insist on playing hardball."

Ace turns his head sharply to regard Ohanzee at the final suggestion.  Cold, calculated, it was the strategy of the terrorist, and in a way it was brilliant.  "I'm not sure that we have the time at our disposal to reach an acceptable success rate, but I like it.  Let's work on it as a plan B to our plan D."

"I agree that this makes a good final option if all else fails.  That said, we're running out of funds and supplies.  We can't live out here forever, I'm still of the opinion we take what money we can and go disappear."

"Ace is right that we will have people chasing us, but as runners there's a good chance we have a long list of people chasing us.  Adding the cult is just another.  Fading into the shadows and moving on is what we do.  I'm ready to move on from this particular adventure and find the next one.  Likely far far away.  ¥250k isn't a fortune, but it'll get us some shiny new SINs and a smugglers route to Seattle or San Francisco, or where ever you want to go."

"We all seem to have, at most, limited connections to the area with Ohanzee's being the most concrete in the people he knew before the accident.  I'm ready to move on."

Doc looks over to see what Sam is working on.  The one charge he's setup looks very professional and ready to go.  The other seems to be a bit more scattered.  Some of the connections are running to the wrong place.  Addressing the giant, "Mind if I take a look at that second one?  I'm pretty good with a pair of wire-snips."

[Tecumseh]

Katsina works her hands, tightening them into fists and then flexing them out. She doesn't know she feels about the obelisk. Pleased that a historical treasure won't be broken up immediately? Dismayed that her hesitance might be pointing the team down the path to its destruction? And who is to say that the obelisk is even benign? Maybe something that turns people into mindless husks deserves to be chopped into kibble, not venerated.

Hecate, help me, she prays silently.

What you do will not be enough, but it is very important that you do it, the Goddess responds.

Katsina is not terribly amused by the ambiguity. Great.

She listens to Ohanzee's plan with a mixture of admiration and fear. Isn't that what terrorists do? she asks herself. Hold the world hostage? It wasn't quite the same; if the team was paid off they would deactivate Sam's device and DIMR would have a shiny new toy. We'll call it enhanced negotiations, she tells herself, not totally convinced.

"Let's not let our psychology get in the way," Katsina says after Doc has finished speaking. "It stings to leave money on the table, but ¥250,000 isn't anything to be upset about. In our prior lives, I think we all would have considered that a pretty good payday. And, as Doc says, it's enough to start over. Time is not on our side here. We've got a bit over ¥1,200 right now and it's ticking off daily as long as we have this van. I suppose we could stop paying, but then we'll just get pinged by the first traffic drone we pass.

"And as long as coming back with our tail between our legs is an option that's on the table, we might want to consider Sam's Johnson." She looks at Sam, uncertain if he'll be offended by the notion. "Obviously they parted on hostile terms, and the Johnson may be responsible for some of the crews coming after us, but we don't even have to represent ourselves as being associated with Sam. We could pose as, ah, troubleshooters that relieved Sam of the artifact, found the Johnson's commcode in Sam's records, and would like to deliver."

I wonder if that sequence of events is inadvertently accurate to the original intentions of the Red and Blue Teams.

[rednblack]

"Ace is right that we will have people chasing us, but as runners there's a good chance we have a long list of people chasing us.  Adding the cult is just another.  Fading into the shadows and moving on is what we do.  I'm ready to move on from this particular adventure and find the next one.  Likely far far away.  ¥250k isn't a fortune, but it'll get us some shiny new SINs and a smugglers route to Seattle or San Francisco, or where ever you want to go."

"We all seem to have, at most, limited connections to the area with Ohanzee's being the most concrete in the people he knew before the accident.  I'm ready to move on."[/color]

Ace shovels the remnants of his plate into his mouth and chews thoughtfully before responding.  "I'm sure in your old lives a good SIN was a comm-call away, but I don't see how we can tap any of those contacts now.  In my old life, I'm sure a SIN was as much a part of my corporate-sponsored load out as the weapons, but I can't very well go back to Ares to start fresh.  Doc, if you think that we can individually or as a team acquire everything necessary to star over, then that changes my thinking.  Honestly, no matter how valuable the relic is, or what it's capable of, I'd rather it be rendered inert and move on than risk some of the more dire consequences."

[Zweiblumen]

While still working with Sam, Doc tries to answer Ace's concerns as he sees them.
"This is the Sixth World omae, anything can be had for a price.  Ohanzee still has his Fixer and Talismonger contacts.  If not one, then the other could start the trail to getting new lives.  Failing that, while they don't advertise too publicly, I'm sure I could find someone to make us new SINs with a couple of hours of searching online.  Or you could walk into the right bar on the edge of the Barrens and get in good with the bartender there.  By the end of the evening you'll find someone who will sell you a SIN.  While this ain't the trids, they get their story arcs from something that resembles reality.  We won't get the best price, but just as we can, with effort, find someone to move the metals, we could find someone to sell us SINS."