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GM: Vulcan
Players: Chromed Accountant (NPC), Matrix Channel.
Synopsis: People talked about the Mother One project.
Date: February 29th, 2072
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant taps the monitor. Is this thing on?
[Matrix] <-<The Gray Snake>-> Kirin says, "Yes"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Good. I'll be around during my coffee break - which will be about 20 minutes - to discuss logistics and supply chains."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Good analysis in that post, CA."
[Matrix] <-<The Gray Snake>-> Kirin blinks. "Logi and Supply Chains.. What?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "You don't say."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Got two ideas myself, but but one of them's impractical and the other's stupid enough to be the plot of a James Bond movie."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "We are discussing the realm of major installations with the power output of a small star. I think James Bond is an appropriate level of intrigue to consider."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Get a dictionary, Snake. In short, if it takes 50 people 50 days to build something, you'd have to ship 2500 day-meals to the place where you need it built. Somehow."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "And construction workers, like the army, march on their belly."
[Matrix] <-<The Gray Snake>-> Kirin says, "Huh, I'm confused as to why you're talking about this in open Trix…"
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Okay. The impractical one ties into your last "real option" — insert the additional traffic a very small amount at a time. Heck, don't even bother with an airstrip if you can somehow make controlled drops instead."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Nothing is open in Shadowland, boy. Additionally, no one is sharing sensitive data at this time. This, is wht you might call, a coffee house discussion of politics."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Regular air traffic that just happens to land a couple tons lighter than they took off, and nobody but the people at the receiving point know where and what they dropped."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "The James Bond solution would be to dig a big damn tunnel. I don't suppose anyone's noticed any weird seismic activity somewhere around… Let's be conservative and say between five and ten years ago?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Consider this. Your average 3 story apartment building takes 3 months to build, from groundbreaking to painting. Landscaping takes longer. But during those 90 days, you have 20 men who need to eat, defficate and work. All of those require supplies that must come from off site. Let us presume they do not have access to a power grid, and they have to bring in generators and fuel for those generators, to work their tools."
[Matrix] Temple has joined this channel.
[Matrix] <-<The Gray Snake>-> Kirin laughs, testy one arn't you CA
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Accountants are not known for their social skills."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "But if you want to find a mystery by following the money, there's no one better to check your numbers with."
[Matrix] <-<The Gray Snake>-> Kirin says, "Yep, money trails are easy to detect with an Accountant helping"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "So you have 90 days of supply runs, usually three times a day. Opening morning, mid day and evening resupply. This is not including your stockpiling of supplies on site before work actually starts or change-orders to work underway. Now, your supply chain includes not only the men who work there, consuming the supplies to build your product, but your drivers, your loaders, your contractors supppliers, drivers and loaders. There is a fantastic datatrail -sitting- there somewhere…"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "The only question, is where."
[Matrix] Temple has left this channel.
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Don't forget housing for the workers. Something this secret you don't spoil by trucking the workers in and out every day…"
[Matrix] <-<The Gray Snake>-> Kirin says, "Easy, where most people would never look.."
[Matrix] <-<The Gray Snake>-> Kirin logs off.
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "… Hell, the more I think of it the more sense the tunnel idea makes. After all, they built the thing underground to begin with."
[Matrix] Kirin has left this channel.
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Very true. Something on this scale obviously used some sort of barracks system. Possibly hotracked, to allow for continuous building. Now this does lead to support for your idea, Eastwood."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Because nighttime construction… would be noticed."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "… Damn, I'm an idiot. Who says they had to dig out /all/ of it? What if they had a natural cavern in more or less the right position to start working from?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Eastwood. Do you know much about the state of Nevada?"
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "I kind of slept through geography in little gunslingers' school. Did I say something hilariously ignorant?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "True fact. Before the NAN wars, the state of Nevada was owned, 84 percent, by the Federal Government of the United States of America. 84 percent of the state was 'national park' or 'military base'."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "More the latter than the former."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "… And there wouldn't be non-classified maps of /either/ of those. Especially not ground maps."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Classified by whom?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "The United States pulled out 40 years ago."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Right."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "THe real trick is finding the records. But in this case, I might look for where records are -not-."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "A prospector goes missing. A military buff goes looking for the old Trinity Crater - never comes back. or comes back missing days. Subtle alterations to Googletrix Maps over the course of decades."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Hmm… Speaking of logistics. What about the logistics of the generator once it's up and running? I'm not up on particle physics but a fusion plant would need hydrogen to fuse, and coolant, and let's not forget power lines leading to Vegas…"
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie nods.
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Well, on the power line aspect, now thats an interesting question."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Back int he days of the united states… how were Nellis Air Force Base, Skunkworks and Area 51 powered?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Much of the Shadowland network is built on old dark fiber."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "It has to link into the grid /somewhere/. Possibly several somewheres, given that ol'Iron-Eyes already bombed one power transfer station just to make a point, he'd go after these in a heartbeat if he knew where they were…"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "The military loves to bury things where casualbombing cannot get to them."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "And then it loves to forget about them."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Landmines, in specific, are a specialty."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Ugly things."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "I presume you take my meaning?"
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Yeah."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "And… let me ask you this."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Do you really think, presume, that it was Iron Eyes who bombed the Hover Hydro Relay?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "After all… Gaiatronics is getting remarkably good press."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Good point."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Presume nothing."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Also fortunate that the generator was ready before the bombing happened, come to think of it."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "… Huh."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "While we're busy checking assumptions…"
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Aside from the press release, what proof do we have that it /is/ a fusion generator down there?"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Well. In this case, all the numbers add up. Unless they developed some sort of free energy that can put out 20 billion kilowatt hours a year…"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "I'm going ot take their word for it."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "The utility grids for Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Santa Fe all add up. They've decoupled from external power - and they are now exporting power."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Just because we don't know anything else that could output that much power? We're already picking around the point that a mega fusion reactor would be a huge construction project that'd be almost impossible to keep secret…"
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "So… either it's real, or it's something else capable of doing the same damn thing. And you're back to square one on the construction."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Speaking of which. People."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "My point is not that it's impossible to build. My point is that the information is there - just hidden."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Likely hundreds of people, at /least/. Most of them construction workers, probably kept on-site for the duration, possibly several years."
[Matrix] Savannah has joined this channel.
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Right. The reactor exists and is transmitting metric shitloads of power. We can take that as given. Something as huge as its theoretical size would be impossible to camouflage if it were on the surface, so it's almost certainly subterranean. Therefore, people have to have designed it, people have to have discovered a place to put it, dug a tunnel to said place, shipped enough materials and workers there to construct it… And managed to do said construction, most likely taking a decade or more, without anyone missing the workers or noticing the shipments."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "Sounds like an incredible feat. If I was a betting man, and I am not, I would suggest that they completed something they found. The majority of the infrasructure was in place previously. They upgraded, then expanded - but did not build. This creates a large amount of labor savings."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "That's my take as well."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant says, "And that concludes my coffee break."
[Matrix] «$$&Sense» Chromed Accountant has logged out.
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Even so, that's a lot of people they'd have to keep quiet about something utterly incredible."
[Matrix] «Eastwood 3:16» Janie says, "Good luck in the trenches, CA."
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