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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1519487" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XXXDate: 123-993Place: Kingan, King George's Land, Alief As Saro drives the Amadel towards Kingan, he notes that such a fast–acting — and quickly–developed — viral blood test (if that was what it was) is something that only becomes available at TL-9 or 10. He observes that the Bromlian researchers have been working around the clock with their TL-8 equipment, and they haven’t developed a test that works quite as quickly as the nurse apparently expected a reaction, if the crew was carrying the virus. Vasilii looks over the brochure the border guard gave him. It appears to be about five years out of date and touts King George’s Land as a powerful nation on Alief with ready access to water. Natural resources appear to be various types of minerals, and the brochure does brag about KGL ATVs (armed and not armed). There is contact information for a trade ministry in the capital. -----Saro sees a sign for a hotel, the McClure Kingan, which appears to be just inside the Kingan city limits. Since the McClure seems to be a decent looking place from the outside, he turns into the parking lot. The travellers then inquire about rooms, which are available. Vasilii gives the desk attendant his fake name, stating that he would like a suite capable of housing his party for a local week. He is firm in what he wants, and says cost isn’t an issue for the suite. While waiting to check in, Saro asks about a decent place for Milorilk or Riquidish cuisine and is directed to Corshhi’s Cafe which apparently also features live Vargr power ballads on the weekends, much to Vasilii's delight (it’s not the weekend yet) and horror (they could be here that long). Vasilii is able to get a two–bedroom suite for the group. One room has two double beds and one room has a single king–sized bed. The central room has a couch with a fold–out bed. Vasilii takes the king–sized bed, claiming it is in keeping with their cover story. Swann takes the fold–out. He says that will allow him to do some late-night computer searching if the mood strikes him without disturbing anyone else. He’s also heard that Ian snores worse than Darishun. The room is pretty pricey in local terms: 1000 KGL Pounds per night. There are 1.5 KGL Pounds per Bromlian Pound. Vasilii makes a note to keep all the receipts, hoping to get the Marquis’ staff to reimburse them if they succeed. -----Since they have some time (and Kingan isn’t that large), the "businessmen" decide to take a little tour around Kingan. The bottling plant appears to be a squat, somewhat squarish looking place on the northern outskirts of town. The facility is decent sized, but not terribly big. The first two clinics are in towards the center of town on the east and west sides, respectively. One is located next to a police station, while the other is located in a shopping mall. The third clinic is a small affair located in the far western suburb in a little strip shopping center. -----After the little tour, the four pull into the parking lot for Corshhi’s which turns out to be a small hole–in–the–wall–type place. The cafe is relatively narrow, and a microphone and speaker are set up in one corner. An elderly Vargr welcomes them and seats the group in the middle of the restaurant. There is a Vargr couple in the far corner of the restaurant, but no other patrons. Swann tries to find a wireless access point for his laptop, but there doesn't appear to be one within range. A hotel room placard did give information on how to access their wireless network, so he decides to do some research after dinner. After ordering non-alcoholic drinks and dinner Vasilii waits until the restaurant becomes more active, then leans forward. "My story got us over the border, but it won’t last too long. All anyone has to do is check with the trade ministry to find that we haven’t checked in with them for all of this to unravel. We should consider what our next move should be. "In my opinion, we can either try to bluff the soda factory directly into giving us a tour or we can try to work it through the trade ministry. If there is a secret government project going on there, the odds of us getting a tour through the ministry are slim. The only way is if its a secret within the government itself, sort of what I’ve heard described as a 'black' program." "Well, I don’t know how much information they actually share," Saro says. "Another thing is that I’m not sure everyone looking for business opportunities has to check in with the trade commission. Sometimes those organizations are there to promote and not necessarily in a regulatory capacity. We are ‘just looking’ after all. We are not going to ‘invest’ just yet." Turning to the doctor, Vasilii asks, "Mark, do you have the names of the people locally who were hospitalized with the disease. I have an idea, and would like to follow up on it." "I think I have it here somewhere." Saro looks in his handcomp. Swann says, "I believe I have that information." He checks his handcomp. "Yeah, here it is. Mark Laird. I have his address, too. But he lives in Judithan." "My theory is that if the people got sick, it would have been because they didn’t drink the sodas that the government gave away," Vasilii says. "Possibly friends or relatives would know if the people didn’t like King Cola, or couldn’t drink it because of some idiosyncratic/dietary reason like diabetes. Who knows, if we get really lucky we might even find a spare can of the soda stashed away in a pantry somewhere." "We could check with them for more than those reasons too, although vaccines aren’t always effective, and sometimes the vaccine itself will make someone sick," Saro says. "You do bring up something interesting. If we presume that they are still producing soda with the vaccine, which is why we are going to the plant, then soda of the shelf has a chance of having the vaccine. Now, after dinner we could get six-packs from different stores around town and I’ll try to analyze them tonight." Swann says, "My interpretation of the information we gathered was that the vaccine was put in special cases of the soft drink which were given away free. It might not be in sodas that are on the shelf. But we can buy some and check anyway." "Unless we can get what we need in a day or two and get out of here," Vasilii says, "My suggestion is that we contact the trade ministry and play it through them. It would take them a day or so to get someone here from the capital. Maybe we could ‘innocently’ get a tour of the soda factory before they get here." "Why don’t we try to learn more about the trade ministry or commission, and what their function is?" Saro asks. "Then we can make a more informed decision." Ian says, "I don't see a problem with setting up a tour with the coke plant. We should pick up a couple of the drinks produced from the plant, at least so we can talk intelligently about the product with the plant personnel. I like the idea of checking out the trade ministry to see what role they would play in our business inquiries." Swann says, "I can do a search on the computer once we get back to our suite." -----After a fairly decent dinner, Ian, Vasilii, Saro, and Swann stop at several stores to pick up a few cases of the King Sour drink and then return to their suite at the McClure Kingan. Vasilii brings everything from the Amadel except his snub pistol, not wanting to tote the weapon through the hotel lobby. "Please remember to be discreet people, we don’t want to be too obvious." Swann, Ian, and Saro bring all of their gear and equipment inside, taking care to hide all the weapons so as not to draw attention. -----After setting up shop, Saro tests his samples of the King Sour drink. The drink is actually pretty tasty: basically a sour fizzy drink with hints of citrus. "Hmmm, this stuff’s not bad," Swann says after taking a sip from a can Saro had already tested. "We should actually pursue trying to export this stuff. We could give Hava-Cola a run for its money." Saro runs samples of the cases through his analyzer. After a couple of hours of testing, he doesn’t find anything viral or antibody related in the cases that were bought. He looks up and smiles. "It was worth a shot." He then opens up a container and drinks deep. "Yeah, this isn’t bad. Maybe it could become one of those cult drinks on Sentry." While Saro is testing the sodas, Swann does some more research via the computer. He doesn’t find any new patients in the local or Judithan hospitals who are suffering from symptoms similar to those of AHV. He does some checking into the trade ministry and finds that its function is to promote and regulate trade between King George’s Land and other nations on Alief as well as trade with entities outside of Alief. Apparently, the latter work is highly uncommon (given the embargo), or at least Swann doesn’t find much public mention of any extra-Alief trade. There doesn’t appear to be a branch of the trade ministry in Kingan or Judithan. There is one in the capital, Dungannon. Registering at the trade ministry probably has to be done in the capital since there isn’t a branch office locally. The information site does mention the successful trading mission of the Sanford four months ago. The Sanford brought in spare parts for the Crown Prince’s milk formula factory and Hava-Cola concentrate, and departed with samples of ATVs in a deal set up by Adjunct Minister Niles Flanagan. The information site’s announcement states that the ministry hopes that the initial trade will result in regular exchanges of non-military equipment that should be allowed through the blockade of Alief. "So Mr. Matahara, how many ATVs do we have room for in the cargo hold?" Swann asks Vasilii. "And we could fill them up with cases of King Sour." Vasilii reads over Swann’s shoulder, nodding his head. "Good, that looks promising. We can work that angle for days, hopefully giving us enough time to get what we need. We might have a problem with extracting ourselves from their over-eager clutches, though. We should give some thought as to why we suddenly need to leave." "Perhaps we could investigate more on Mr. Flanagan," Saro says. "I’ll bet he has kept a stash of the vaccine for himself and other bigwigs." After some more searching, Swann finds some information on various ATVs produced by King George’s Land. There are varying sizes, but the most common size is about 8 dTons in displacement — six should fit in the Bray Keaven’s cargo hold. He also locates some information on Adjunct Minister Niles Flanagan. He lives in one of the suburbs of KGL’s capital. -----While the others are busy in the suite, Ian takes a walk around the property just to check things out. He intends to use this "base line" observation to hopefully help him spot anything suspicious in future observations. The hotel’s security consists of a rent-a-cop type security guard (unarmed) who walks around the grounds every now and again. There is no gate into the parking lot, though the parking lot is well lit. Access into the hotel building is through the lobby and a couple of side entrances which require guest key card access after dark. -----After finishing his tests, Saro pulls out his baliset from the mess in the corner where he keeps his things. He starts strumming softly and singing an old Terran song. "Oh, the shark has pretty teeth dearAnd he shows ’em, pearly whiteJust a jack knife has Macheath dearAnd he keeps it way out of sight "When that shark bites with his teeth, dearScarlet billows begin to spreadFancy gloves though has Macheath dearSo there’s never, never a trace of red "On the sidewalk, one Sunday morningLies a body, oozin’ lifeSomeone’s sneaking ’round the cornerCould that someone be Mack the Knife? "From a tugboat, on the river going slowA cement bag is dropping on downYou know that cement is for the weight dearYou can make a large bet Mackie’s back in town" After the song he puts the baliset away and goes to sleep. -----Swann wedges a chair under the doorknob of the suite’s main entrance, and sleeps with his snub pistol and auto pistol loaded and within easy reach. </blockquote>

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