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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 578125" data-attributes="member: 221">Episode 1 Chapter 1:  On board the Sunlight!“You’re new here so I’ll go over a few things with you,” said Hugh Rogers, editor-in-chief and sole owner of the Sunlight Scoop.  He was speaking to Andrew and James Sharpless, identical twin brothers, fresh out of college and eager to prove themselves as journalists.  The Sharpless twins were twenty years old with brown hair, light blue eyes, freckles and a pair of winning smiles, complete with dimples.  They stared in rapt attention “We are not a newspaper!”  shouted Rogers as he slammed his fist down on the table, making both his mug of coffee and his audience jump.“We are a Tabloid!  We do not print News! We print Sensation!  The more sensational the better.  Last week, a dog bit the hand off of his owner.”“Really?” said one of the two twins, a bit surprised.  He had not, apparently, read that story in any of the papers he was accustomed to reading.“Yes!  And do you know what story the other papers ran?”“What?”“I’ll tell you James…”“I’m not James.  I’m Andrew.  He’s James.”Hugh Rogers stopped, his thunder momentarily stolen. “Andrew.  Right.  James has the camera and you have the notebook.”“Right.”“Well, I’ll tell you Andrew.  ‘Biting the Hand that Fed It’ was their headline.  You know what story we ran?”The twins both shook their heads.“We ran, ‘Nazi Brain Control Causes Canine Cannibalism!’  That’s the sort of story that readers of the Sunlight Scoop want to read.  Look at our other headlines from last week.  ‘Martians register as Republicans in Wisconsin!’ ‘Two headed Cat saves its Family!’ ‘Goldfish Diet works Miracles!’ ‘Rock Star Revealed to be a Clone!’  Sensational, every one of them.  I guarantee you that if you find yourself a sensational headline the story will write itself!”Rogers paused for a moment and then continued.  “I am going to give you two Fred Hampton’s old gig.  Poor Fred.  I’m going to miss that old coot.  He was a good writer.  Now Fred tended to do disappearances and…”“What happened to Fred,” asked James, interrupting.“The poor guy went completely insane.  He’s gibbering away in an Asylum in Texas.  He was doing some story on a Wendigo cult in Alaska and completely lost it I’m afraid.  But we can’t live in the past, no profit in it!  He’s out and You are in!  Onward and Upward!  Fred tended to do Disappearances and true crime and you two are taking his place.  I have two airline tickets for you.”“Airline tickets?” said James.“Right. Two airline tickets because there are two of you.  They’re for a small chartered plane to Virginia.  A little place by the ocean called Cape Truman.  The crew of a ship there has disappeared and I want you to get a story out of it.  It may be the work of the Neptunians but we can’t tell for sure.  You are responsible for getting to the bottom of things.”“Where are we going again?” asked Andrew.“Cape Truman.  It’s in Virginia.  On the Coast.”“Okay.”“Now make sure to get me three things,” said Rogers and he turned and stared at Andrew, “Good Quotes!”He turned his attention to James, “ Good Pictures!  Good pictures of blood.  Good pictures of bodies!  Good pictures of Neptunians.  And Finally, Real Sensation!  The stories need to be sensational!”“Excuse me,” said Andrew, “But what does a Neptunian look like?”“Tall, bug-eyed and green.  They come from Neptune.”“Are they friendly?”“No! They are here to take over the world!  And I want pictures of them!”“Right,” said James and Andrew together as they turned and gave each other a questioning look.“Now, are you clear on my criteria?  Good Quotes, Good Pictures and Real Sensation.  Don’t let me down boys.  Your flight leaves in an hour.  You can stay as long as needed provided you keep turning out stories for me, but I do have to have your first story in three days.  As of now you are both on a bi-weekly salary of $500 each but if you turn in good stories you had better believe I’ll put a few bonuses into your checks.  Any questions?”“I don’t know if I have enough pages in my notebook for more than one story at a time,” said Andrew.  “Buy a bigger notebook!” snapped Hugh Rogers, “Now the both of you get out of here and catch that flight.  I’ll keep in touch, you can be sure of that!”</blockquote>

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