NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1505568" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XXVIIDate: 122-993 and 123-993Place: Groves Airport outside Lowford, in Bromley, on Alief The evening before the crew splits up, Argent notifies the Marquis of events and plans to date in general terms. He does mention the Sanford to the Marquis, who promises to look into the far trader. The Marquis reports that the other medical teams have basically duplicated the detection assay that Saro has done but really haven’t gotten much further other than to conclude that AHV seems highly unlikely to be a natural mutation of the rabbit hemmorhagic virus. In the morning, Ian, Swann, Vasilii, and Saro set out on their adventure holiday. Rather than flying the air raft the 1,200 or so kilometers to the border, Ian arranges for the air raft to catch a military cargo plane returning to its base a few hundred klicks from Nielsen. After arriving at the airbase, the four fly their air raft to Nielsen where they leave it with one of Col. Rundell’s contacts, pick up their Reilley Motors Amadel, and load it up. As the group starts to transfer equipment from the air raft to the Amadel, Swann offers to pack any "sensitive" material so it will be less likely to be discovered. "I’ve had some experience with this sort of thing," he says, offering no further explanation. He hides the more conspicuous items — weapons, personal armor, the analyzer, the night–vision goggles — the best he can beneath and inside their other gear and clothing. Climbing inside the car, they head out driving on BR 35 towards the border with King George’s Land and Kingan. "Not a bad ride at all," Saro says. "For some reason I find wheeled vehicles reassuring. Give me some tires solidly planted on the road and I’m happy." Saro turns on the tuner on the car and searches around for a nice music station appropriate for driving. He decides on a bluesy fusion station and he starts belting it out over the music, oblivious to the fact that he doesn’t speak the language of the song. "Hugha dion thre mea whaahh!! Yeah!!" he sings, head bobbing. The others roll their eyes or suppress laughs. Approaching the border crossing, the quartet sees that there is a small line of vehicles waiting to enter King George’s Land. After just entering the tail of the queue, the four notice that the occupants of the vehicle at the front seem to be questioned and then lead off to a small building while their vehicle is searched. After about 5 minutes, the occupants return with their right hand over the insides of their left arm opposite the elbow. "Well, gentlemen, it seems like we are about to be inoculated," Saro says. "If anyone has an opportunity to swipe a vial of whatever they are using without attracting notice it might prove to be very useful. Another thing, maybe someone else should talk to them instead of me. I am not very good at, um, lying, so how about we keep our story simple. We are businessmen who come looking for investment opportunities. Nothing in particular. That’s basically what we had agreed on, right?" The others agree, and Vasilii says he will act as the group’s spokesman since he is a Merchant and used to dealing with people. As they get to the front of the line, a skinny KGL border guard approaches the driver’s side of the Amadel and indicates that Saro should roll down his window. Gesturing to the building, he says, "All of you, please step out of the vehicle and proceed to door No. 1 while we inspect your vehicle." Upon entering door No. 2, the quartet is met by a bookish–looking border guard with a hawkish nose and thick glasses, and a nurse in a smock. The bookish guard looks them over and says, "Please hand me your papers." While glancing at the papers, he continues, "So, what brings you to King George's Land?" Saro looks around and waits a second to see if somebody else answers the question. He hands over his papers, smiles, and says simply: "Business, we hope." Vasilii pulls down his facemask and smiles at the border guard with an open expression. "My name is Vasilii Matahara, and I am a broker for off-world trading concerns who are currently petitioning the Imperial government for trade access to Alief. With me is my assistant," Vasilii points to Saro, "Mark Riddleston, and my company security team" he says as he waves vaguely toward Ian and Swann. Ian nods when Vasilii waves his way. Swann looks bored and unconcerned, but alert, like a good security team member would. "I’m here on a fact-finding tour to register possible sources of trade opportunities with Alief," Vasilii continues, turning back to the guard. "My company feels that if we can establish profitable trade opportunities that the Imperial government may issue us an exemption to the current quarantine. "We were able to book passage on a trader that was carrying relief supplies. Those countries that are afflicted by the plague are not in any position to deal with us, however, so we came here because you’ve been very fortunate to be spared. So, we loaded up all our gear and headed here to your country. "Perhaps you can tell me if you know of anything that your country is known for? Artwork, minerals, tools, machinery, all these items have worth on other worlds and could be a stepping stone to establishing normal trade relations. I’ve heard that your country produces a drink that is considered quite popular. That could be a very nice ‘fad’ item on other worlds." After hearing Vasilii’s smooth spiel and trade overtures, the bookish border guard looks up, his boredom replaced with a surprised, but pleased look. "Off world? Really? That’s great! We’ve really been trying to get more off-worlders to make their way through the blockade to set up some legitimate trade. I know that since the Sanford made it through, everyone has been really hopeful that other traders would come through. "Hmmm, your papers seem to be in order. I’m surprised that you managed to get weapons permits: they’re hard to obtain. I would suggest that your security team keep them out of sight, though. King George's Land is a safe country, and people get nervous when they see people who aren’t the police with weapons." Once Vasilii finishes he steps back and lets the others hand over their papers. He glances out the window to see how the vehicle inspection process is going, then rubs his lower back as if the long ride has made him sore. Ian and Swann present their papers in a professional manner. During the process they stay alert, observing the layout of the office, and the actions of the officials. Outside, the guards seem to have finished inspecting the trunk of the Amadel. One of them comes inside, walks over to the bookish guard, and whispers in his ear. At the same time, Swann notices that four other guards have wandered to the area between door No. 2 and the Amadel. Swann catches Ian’s eye; with a series of glances and slight nods, they indicate which guards each will try to take out. They also surreptitiously move hands closer to their weapons. The bookish guard says to his co–worker, "It’s OK, they have permits." The whispering border guard looks surprised and skeptical, glances up to take in the quartet, and then goes back outside. After a moment, Saro lets out a breath when the guards disperse. "Sorry about that, your security team’s weapons alarmed the inspectors a bit," the bookish guard says to Vasilii. "Anyway, I’m afraid that I can’t help you with trade opportunities much, but I can give you this brochure from the Trade Commission. They printed these up just in case, but I’ve never been able to give one to an off-worlder before." He reaches under the counter to get a brochure, finds the top one covered with dust, and then hands the one below it to Vasilii. The Vilani Merchant opens the brochure and scans the contents, looking quickly to see if there is a point of contact. He looks up and says, "Thank you, this will be very helpful. I appreciate your assistance and will be sure to mention your helpfulness to the Trade Commission." He hands the brochure to Saro and brushes off his hands. "Yes, my company was most thorough preparing for this trip," Vasilii continues. "I promise you that my security will be most discreet," he looks significantly at Ian and Swann, "so please don’t worry about us upsetting the members of your fine country." Ian nods once to acknowledge the statement. "Ah, one more thing," the guard says. "We do have to get blood samples from you just to check to see if you have that virus. We haven’t found anyone with it yet, but headquarters is insisting that we check everyone coming through." He motions to the nurse who comes over with a small tray. The nurse quickly draws blood from the four into test tubes, with Vasilii going last. After drawing the blood, she takes a syringe, withdraws a small quantity of liquid from a vial, and then injects a portion into each test tube. After a minute, she shakes each tube, looks satisfied at the apparent lack of change in the blood, and then nods to the bookish guard. "Ah, I knew it. You’re fine. I heard that we’ve got doctors working hard on a vaccine for this plague. Nasty stuff, I’m just glad that they were able to find a test to detect it so quickly. Anyway, welcome to King George’s Land." Rubbing his arm where the blood was drawn, Vasilii smiles and nods to the guard. "Well Sir, unless you have anything else, we’ll be on our way." Trying not to breathe a sigh of relief, the adventure holiday crew of the Bray Keaven returns to the Amadel. Vasilii gets in back opposite the driver, with Swann sitting behind the driver and Ian riding shotgun. When everyone is in, Saro drives the Amadel towards Kingan with a wide smile on his face. "Good job, Vasilii," he says. "That was smooth." "Yes, very smooth," Ian adds. "Good job." Vasilii turns to Saro. "Doctor, I admit that I’m not medically trained, but something there puzzled me. Isn’t it odd that KGL has developed a definitive, easy test to determine exposure so quickly when they haven’t been afflicted by it to any significant degree? I don't remember hearing anything about that in Bromley or from the Marquis’ report. Would that test help in any way to develop a vaccine? At the very least such a test would be a quick way to help contain the spread of the plague, exactly like KGL is doing now." "Well, there are two main approaches to quick diagnostic tests like that," Saro says. "One is genetic testing, a version of which we already developed and is being used back in camp. To do this you need to know at least a section of the unique genetic makeup of the virus. The second is immunoassays, which requires that an organism with an immunologic system survive an infection. "Either way, if they developed the test they have more information than they are letting on. A likely event is that, since they apparently got the virus from an off-world source or at least off-world scientists, they got the diagnostic test and the vaccine at the same time. "Unfortunately, that test wouldn’t put us any closer to a vaccine than we already are, and we have our own quick diagnostic test. We know the whole genetic sequence of AHV, and antibodies used in immunoassays are no good for a vaccine. I guess it could be used as evidence or for comparison. It might still be worth getting a vial given the opportunity." Vasilii ponders, and tries to remember the size and layout of the guard offices. "Did anyone see if there was a medical storage area located there? If not, I’ll assume that the test supplies would be transported there on a regular basis. Perhaps we should add that to our ‘shopping list’?" He leans back and closes his eyes, letting Saro drive. "I wouldn’t be surprised if that guard lets someone in his chain of command know that we are in the country, given the interest he showed at my off-world origins. Perhaps we should head to the nearest population center and establish quarters. Then we can pursue an inspection of the soda factory as a ‘trade opportunity.’ Seems that the easiest way to get inside is for them to invite us, no?" "Sounds like a good plan to me," Ian agrees. "I like the way you think," Saro says. "It would definitely be nice to stop somewhere and eat, too. I am all for getting rooms and then trying to get an invitation to the factory. It might be difficult to get what we need while getting the tour, but we could check out the layout and make an appropriate plan for coming back if needs be. We could probably just stay in any business type hotel in Kingan." Swann listens to the others talk. The Doctor’s comment about eating makes him realize how hungry he is. "Yeah, I think lunch should be the next item on our agenda, then we can find a good hotel in Kingan to use as a base of operations. A guided tour of the soft drink bottling plant would be a great way to get a feel for the layout." Pulling out his hand comp, he consults his notes. "Hmmm. We could also try locating these three community clinics, see if any of them appear to be likely candidates for a late-night visit." Scrolling through the information on Alief, Swann spots an entry that jogs his memory. "Doc, this planet has millions of Vargr on it. Maybe we can find someplace in Kingan that serves Vargr cuisine. I could really go for some fresh meat. Who knows, maybe they’ll let you sing some of those power ballads for your supper." Vasilii shudders at the thought of trying to eat while listening to Vargr power ballads.</blockquote>

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