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TooB Journal Part Fourback to Part Three of the Journal
March 14, 1019 (August 29, 1900 = January 22, 2009)
The PSOs camp near Samarkand. The ice on the Dnieper breaks up at Kiev; Yaroslav throws a going-away (please) party for Yngvar and his fleet. Mahmoud's forces are 225 miles from Ararat.
March 15, 1019 (August 30, 1900 = January 23, 2009)
Yngvar's Vikings sail south along the Dnieper. Mahmoud's forces are 200 miles from Ararat.
March 17, 1019 (September 1, 1900 = January 25, 2009)
The PSOs camp near Nishapur. Mahmoud's forces are 150 miles from Ararat.
March 18, 1019 (September 2, 1900 = January 26, 2009)
A large group of Jammers arrives near Mount Ararat with the Gate Ripper, and begin re-assembling it. Aaron and Sasha are with them, as camp servants. Mahmoud's forces are 125 miles from Ararat.
Some intruders creep near the PSOs camp.
March 20, 1019 (September 4, 1900 = January 28, 2009)
Yngvar and his fleet enter the Black Sea, intending to head roughly towards Armenia. Mahmoud's forces are 75 miles from Ararat. The PSOs come upon his army, and have a chat with a couple of Jammers (Fred and Joe) accompanying them.
March 22, 1019 (September 6, 1900 = January 30, 2009)
The Suars tribe arrives near Mount Ararat, along with the forcers of the Armenian theme of the Byzantine Empire. The assembly of the Gate Ripper is completed at a camp on the slopes of Little Ararat. There is a lot of coming and going by Jammers, as they assemble their forces at Ararat. Mahmoud's forces are 25 miles from Ararat. The PSOs arrive at the camp on Little Ararat.
March 23, 1019 (September 7, 1900 = January 31, 2009)
The forces of Mahmoud, Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, arrive near Mount Ararat. The PSOs and some Jammers visit the Ararat Anomaly, and view the cave where the feng shui is concentrated. While exploring the actual summit, they find and destroy a Buro retransmitter.
March 24, 1019 (September 8, 1900 = February 1, 2009)
The Suars tribe are bought off with a small bag of (artificial) rubies; Mahmoud's forces are informed of this, and agree to allow the Suars to travel south, away from Ararat. The Jaguar Warriors are seen approaching from the east. Various drones and distant aircraft circle in the sky. That evening, many of the cyborg primates and Jammers gather at the camp on Little Ararat's slopes.
The Gathering Forces
March 25, 1019 (September 9, 1900 = February 2, 2009)
The Day of Changes, about 6 miles from the peak of Mount Ararat. Early in the morning, a group of Jammers (including Furious George) ascend Ararat to the Anomaly Cave, and trigger the Critical Shift - removing the power of feng shui from the world.
After an anxious 20 or 30 minutes, news comes over the radio (from other Portals) that the Shift has been pretty successful -- the 2009 Juncture seems to be little changed, but the 2056 Juncture is radically different!
The Buro is no more, separate nations squabble and fight wars, poverty and space travel exist, all much different than the former 2056 Juncture. Wild cheering erupts from the Jammers.
The cyborg monkeys get immediately to work, moving the parts of the Strangelet Bomb through the Gate Ripper's Portal to Hell. Within half-an-hour, the Battlechimp gives a last wave to the remaining Jammers, and passes though the Portal.
Remaining on the mountain are Furious George and a couple of the Apes of Wrath; the PSOs serving as medics; a dozen or so "technical" Jammers manning the sensors, air-defense and anti-missile systems; and about 50 Jammers on the perimeter. Very soon the base on Little Ararat is very busy -- attacks from drones, gun and rocket attacks from aircraft, wizards and demons manifesting in the sky, Buro Abominations, martial artists (from the Guiding Hand, it seems), and other trouble.
A few miles away, a force of modern mercenaries fights another group of martial artists -- a last squabble for power between the Ascended of 2009 and 1900. A column of Storm Knights runs into a dense minefield while approaching Ararat, and are pretty thoroughly chopped up. An orbital drop pod descends onto the hilltop, and out come a dozen badass heroes -- the Dragons! Some of the Jammers know them by reputation, and the Dragons move off to the east to confront the approaching Jaguar Warriors. Nearly 20 miles away, to the north, the forces of the Armenian theme enter battle against the invading Ghaznavid army.
90 minutes pass, and the base on Little Ararat is shattered and scorched. Furious George (soul-devoured by a demon) and one of the Apes of Wrath are dead, along with three-quarters of the Jammers. O'Reilly is on a stretcher with some messy fragment and splinter wounds, and McClellan is unconscious after emergency surgery -- he was nearly killed in hand-to-hand combat with one of the White Monks. Oh, and this is his second "critical injury" in less than a month. Hobbes and Burns are busy treating the wounded Jammers.
The signal from the Jammer aicraft is received, and those Jammers (plus the PSOs) who want to leave this Juncture before the Portals close forever jump onto a truck, and drive to a flat area a few miles away -- the Jammers' STOL airplane lands there, the PSOs and 3 Jammers jump aboard, and the plane immediately takes off. The flight to Constantinople takes about 2 hours, leaving only an hour to pass through the Portal in that city! The aircraft lands just outside the outer walls of the city. The PSOs and Jammers ride a small 4-wheel drive "jeep-ey" vehicle hell-bent for leather through Constantinoples streets. The Portal in Constantinople is controlled by the Ascended, but a rapid (and explosive) assault blows past the defenders and brings the Jammers and PSOs to the Portal -- which they jump on through.
The Modern Juncture - February 2, 2009 - Monday
The other side of the Portal is an unassuming door, in a modern warehouse located in rural Austria. There doesn't seem to be the expected high security by the Ascended, but the Jammers and PSOs run quickly away regardless.
Running, of course, is difficult with two wounded friends, so a car is quickly stolen from a parking lot near the Portal building. The car is driven a few miles, until a likely town is spotted. The PSOs and Jammers hide in a barn, the car is ditched in a river, and Burns walks into town for some information and communications. The team makes contact with Neil Glasscock, who promises - and quickly provides - assistance. He and his remaining Jammer buddies are used to wounded, poorly-documented, overly-armed comrades showing up in random parts of the world, after all.
The three Jammers who came through the Portal with the PSOs head for Berlin, hoping to enter a Portal to the 2056 Juncture before they all close -- very unlikely, but they want to try. Glasscock's men provide a safe house for the PSOs near Vienna, and bring the two wounded officers to a clinic for professional medical treatment.
Burns and Hobbes spend the evening relaxing, and watching CNN -- trying to spot the differences in history. In fact, they do see a few. "Who is this Glenn Beck fellow?"
February 3, 2009 - Tuesday Glasscock says he can provide fake ID and secure transport (in a corporate jet) back to America. The PSOs want to return to their former lives, but it'll be tricky -- they're still officially dead! It takes a few days for the identity papers and transportation to be arranged. Glasscock advises them against being seen in public, and asks them to keep their long-ish hair and scraggly nails.
February 5, 2009 - Thursday
A Gulfstream G550 jet arrives at Vienna, the PSOs are whisked aboard, and flow to Houston, Texas -- for customs clearance -- and then onwards to Glasscock's 165,000 acre ranch in West Texas.
February 6, 2009 - Friday
After arriving late at night, the PSOs awaken late. Some medical examinations are performed, after which they meet Glasscock in person. There's a lot of discussion about what's happened -- things seem to have turned out well, and all the world's Portals seem to have closed on February 2nd -- and what the PSOs will do. Glasscock's financial resources are pretty good -- he's about the 150th richest person in the world, and is building his own spaceport -- but the PSOs death was pretty high profile. It's been 188 days since the fire on South Murphy Avenue ...
The PSOs agree to reappear as "street people" somewhere obscure, having just -- all at the same time -- recovered their memories. Not being able to answer any questions about where they've been for six months, and how they got shot, stabbed, splintered, etc. seems to be easier than talking about giant robot gorillas. Glasscock suggests they keep their diet kind of primitive from this point onward, to keep their "homeless" appearance and to help pass the many, many tests they should expect once they turn up.
Oh, and Glasscock is able to have his techs get past the security on the militarized laptop the PSOs grabbed! Nothing very thrilling, it turns out ... lots of info on how Gordon Hong, a minor member of the Ascended, was buying up locations in the Silicon Valley with good feng shui.
Glasscock insists that the PSOs stay out-of-contact with him or the Jammers for 15 months (till July of 2010); he'll hang onto any possessions (nearly all of them) that would be difficult to explain.
US senators fail to reach agreement for the third day on President Barack Obama's $900 billion bail-out plan.
February 10, 2009 - Tuesday
The PSOs are dressed in rags and given some carefully-chosen equipment. Glasscock suggests they spend a couple of weeks on the road, playing the part of amnesiac firefighters. It's likely that the authorities will presume they've all been drugged by some person or persons unknown -- group concussions and simultaneous recoveries are pretty rare. They are dropped off near Chicago, and immediately head for the county homeless shelter -- there are wind gusts up to 45 miles per hour, about 2" of rain during the night, and a couple of sessions of heavy hail.
US President Barack Obama says he will not allow "safe havens" for militants in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. US carmaker General Motors confirms it is cutting 10,000 jobs from its global workforce by the end of this year. The US Senate passes an $838 billion economic stimulus bill backed by President Obama, despite opposition from Republicans; the US Treasury secretary announces a new $1.5 trillion bank bail-out plan to combat the financial crisis.
February 11, 2009 - Wednesday
And then there's heavy snow beginning at 6 pm - 6.4" in total during Friday night. The "lake effect " is expected to bring more snows over the next week or two. In fact, it's blizzards, storms, and nasty weather the whole time.
The most senior US soldier, Adm Mike Mullen, says more US troops are needed urgently in Afghanistan.
February 24, 2009 - Tuesday
Thunderstorms, very heavy rain. The PSOs have been living under freeways, in missions and homeless shelters, and in deserted buildings generally just south of Chicago. They decide they've had enough of the weather -- Hobbes is developing a nasty case of pneumonia, and McClellan and O'Reilly aren't doing so well either -- so McClellan "makes the call home".
A US defence department report recommends easing prisoners' isolation at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. North Korea says it is planning to launch a rocket carrying a satellite, fuelling speculation about a possible missile test. Asian stocks slide amid renewed fears over the global financial sector and after US stocks hit a near 12-year low. Sri Lanka's army says its troops are now at the last main town still held by the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north-east.
February 25, 2009 - Wednesday
It actually takes several calls, for a couple of days, to get anyone to start believing that they are the four "dead" PSOs.
The PSOs are eventually picked up by the Chicago PD; after some initial interviews, they're put up in a hotel and cleaned up a bit. By the evening, word has reached the press, and the FBI has taken over from the Chicago police. Hobbes is sent over to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
February 26, 2009 - Thursday
The other PSOs are taken to UCMC for a lot of tests, and for treatment of their various injuries. The national press goes nuts with the story!
The US defence department ends a ban on news photos of the coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
February 28, 2009 - Saturday
O'Reilly, Burns and McClellan are flown to San Jose. Hobbes can't fly (he's still being treated for pneumonia). More of the "media goes ape". A court order is granted for the exhumation of the bodies of three of the PSOs (O'Reilly's "corpse" was cremated), and preliminary DNA tests seem to confirm their identities. The fact that Hobbes now has a smallpox vaccination scar -- he didn't six months ago -- is of some interest, along with McClellan's teeth, plug and tattoo; more blood is drawn for tests.
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai urges the country to hold elections in May, rather than August as decided by the electoral commission.
March 2, 2009 - Monday
The graves of Hobbes, Burns, and McClellan are opened, and the bodies are taken to the Santa Clara county coroner's office; FBI pathologists are to perform new autopsies. There's some discussion of how the medical examiners dealt with the identification of the corpses originally. Detailed results on the blood tests come back, with evidence of exposure to several diseases (or vaccines) recently. Hobbes is still in Chicago; the PSOs have been allowed to meet with their families and Sunnyvale PSD officials. The nature of McClellan's plug is quite mysterious, and the Feds are passing along pictures of his large abdominal tattoo to occult experts.
Samples of O'Reilly's hair show recent exposure (within the last couple months) to radiation.
A Los Angeles clinic courts controversy by offering would-be parents the chance to select traits like the eye, skin and hair colour of their offspring. The Bangladesh army launches a manhunt for border guards who mutinied in Dhaka last week, killing about 140 army officers. The CIA destroyed 92 videotapes of interviews with terror suspects, a US government lawyer admits.
March 3, 2009 - Tuesday
The FBI holds a press conference, and states that the exhumed bodies are definitely not those of the missing PSOs. Preliminary causes of death for all three corpses were gunshot wounds, probably from one or more .223 caliber assault rifles. Facial reconstruction, etc. will take a few weeks to perhaps identify the dead men. The records of the county coroner's office are being examined; the medical examiners deny any wrongdoing. Some folk from the Defense Department arrive with lots of medical records for McClellan, O'Reilly and Burns -- more checking to verify their identities.
Blood tests confirm that both O'Reilly and McClellan have received large doses of ionizing radiation in the last two months. The possessions of all four men, and the various shelters in the Chicago area where they are known to have been, are being checked very carefully for radioactive contamination.
GM, Ford, Toyota and Nissan report sharp drops in US vehicle sales as consumers remain reluctant to make expensive purchases.
March 4, 2009 - Wednesday
The three PSOs in Sunnyvale are asked by the FBI to submit to hypnosis while under sedation ...
The main US base in southern Afghanistan is hit by at least one explosion, officials say. More than 1,500 Mexican troops move into a city on the US border being fought over by rival drug gangs. The International Criminal Court indicts Sudan's president on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Economic conditions worsened in January and February, the US Federal Reserve says in an influential report.
March 9, 2009 - Monday
The PSOA claims that Burns, Hobbes, O'Reilly and McClellan are being pressured by the FBI and Department of Justice, "despite the fact that these four brave men are the victims here ... initially victims of some bizarre plot, and now victims of the Federal agents responding to media pressure." A reported from Time magazine is the highest-profile non-official person wanting to interview the PSOs.
The pathologists provided by the FBI come to some interesting conclusions about the three exhumed corpses.
March 11, 2009 - Wednesday
McClellan is approached by a entertainment lawyer, representing a Hollywood producer who would like to buy the movie rights to his story ... the lawyer says he will be calling on the other three PSOs soon, also. Soon you'll be reading the phrase all rights throughout time and space in perpetuity with a certain creeping sense of unease. Keep in mind that "life story rights" mostly means the subject (the PSOs in this case) agree not to sue for defamation, invasion of privacy, etc. in return for payment; the rights might also include agreements to interviews, and exclusivity (not signing the same agreements with anyone else for a period of time). The agreements are usually transferable. Ken wanted to be "lawyer to the rock stars" once upon a time, he can tell you more about this if you care.
March 2009
The four PSOs are officially on administrative and medical leave from the DPS; in the cases of O'Reilly, McClellan and Hobbes there are definite medical aftereffects to deal with. Hobbes arrives back in California; and by now the PSOs are all living in their own homes/apartments. Press interest has dropped (though long-term media interest is still there). O'Reilly and McClellan go through hypnosis under light sedation, and give some mighty messed-up stories. It's actually pretty easy for them to resist hypnosis (if hypnosis was the easy way to answers, nobody would need torture any more). The main effect of the sedatives is to make the PSOs a little uneasy after the hypnosis sessions -- "what, exactly, did I tell them?" Glasscock's name, and the events in Alaska, apparently never came up. Burns plays up the "I don' wanna play your stupid hypnosis game", and Hobbes combines ill-health and just plain "hmm, apparently I can't be hypnotized" to avoid anything like a useful session.
O'Reilly is notified that his Air National Guard unit is deploying to Afghanistan beginning May 1st.
April, 2009
The FBI unveils reconstructions of the three corpses exhumed on March 2nd -- nothing at all like the PSOs, and (in the long run) totally anonymous. Two of the Santa Clara County medical examiners are placed on leave, pending hearings; they are protesting their innocence. There are some internal meetings and investigations within the Sunnyvale DPS ... the entire "they fell into a hole" incident is just full of inconsistencies and contradictions. A few officers will be less likely to receive promotions.
April 20, 2009 - Monday
All four PSOs are returned to duty; the PSOA arranges for Burns' probationary period to be considered "still underway" (it will end in December of 2009) - although extending the probationary period is a pretty well-known way for the Department to harass unwanted officers (such as women and minorities). The PSOs will be assigned to the department's fire investigation unit for now -- the annual "bidding for positions" process is coming up in May.
The Obama administration opposes any effort to prosecute those in the Justice Department who drafted legal memos authorizing harsh interrogations at secret CIA prisons, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said yesterday. Speaking with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week,” Emanuel said, “But those who devised the policies…should not be prosecuted either.”
May 2009
Time to bid for new positions within the department! The actual new positions begin in July. None of the PSOs has enough seniority to affect the process much; none of them have completed the specialized training for SWAT, K-9, etc. duty. Thus the available positions are:
Place your first and second choice bids! It's fairly easy to swap patrol shifts, partners or fire duty stations after the positions are assigned.
O'Reilly's off to Afghanistan from 1 May to 8 September. He still gets to bid for a position, of course.
June 2009
McClellan enters and passes the 80-hour "Basic SWAT Course" run by the Santa Clara Sherrif's office - he gets two checks in the skill Climb, one in Rifle, and one in Pistol. Hmm, Sunnyvale has a Bearcat armored vehicle for SWAT operations. He can now apply to be part of the DPS SWAT team - not easy, it's got a lot of lieutenants and senior officers on it. Application to join the SWAT team doesn't affect or depend on your "position bid" -- the SWAT team, hostage negotiators, and a few other specially-skilled teams are only called out from the regular position when needed for training or operations. Oh, and McClellan can now say he's used all the SWAT team weapons:
July 2009
New position assignments for the Department of Public Safety. The last FBI investigator assigned full-time to the Dead Men Returned case is given other cases (he's in the San Francisco field office, if it comes up).
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