Notes taken by Alastair and Samantha Beadle.
The team step onto Project Safeguard. The docking port is on the end of a long docking spur projecting from one of the force field generating cylinders.
The station smells metallic and sterilised. Truth also smells chemicals, medicines, pharmaceuticals, people (including all the super villains on the station that she has previously met), blood, sweat, fear...
Inside the airlock are four wardens in Project Safeguard jump-suits (dark blue with the Project Safeguard insignia patch on the left shoulder - a picture of the station with a barred jail-type door across the front of it - and the person's name on the breast).
John Doe perches, in blaster-toting Koala form, on Truth's shoulder.
"Good day, you would be the London Knights?" says one of the wardens, in an American accent. "I am Warden Morgan. Commander Perrallta, Head Warden of the station, would like a word with you, if he may?"
We all nod and he leads off. The other three wardens remain behind to escort the rest of the passengers - the six replacement wardens.
We notice that although the station is not spinning it does have gravity. The gravity feels strange to Noesis, though - he does not need to fight its pull in the way he would expect.
We use a travelator to progress along the spur, through the force field generator (which we can detect by its humming) and into the part of the station built into the rock (which looks like some sort of metallic rock). Truth confirms that it is 'normal' rock by passing her hand through it. Morgan gives her a funny look, but leads on. A few turns later he points out the guest quarters, where we will be staying. Our jovial banter as we go regarding the aliens invading the station seems to make him nervous for some reason!
Coloured lines on the floor lead to various parts of the station. Morgan tells us which is what:
We approach an iron door (all the doors and fittings we have passed are iron, as if they had been made from the rock material). Morgan knocks, and enters when 'come in' is heard from inside in a Spanish-type accent. Sat behind a desk, with a window into space in the background, is a short, wiry, black man with a steely gazed and close-cropped greying hair. He wears the same sort of jump-suit as Morgan, but with an insignia of rank on the right shoulder.
A clock on the wall shows that it is 1500 GMT.
Also in the room are two women. One is 30-ish, average looking, with mousy brown hair and light brown eyes, in a black trouser suit and white blouse. She is introduced as Mrs Rotherwood from SI-12. Another woman, attractive, tall and blond with blue eyes, is introduced as Ms Sejnowski from the USAF. Her USAF uniform has a shoulder flash with the acronym ATD on it.
Perrallta asks us to sit. Truth, Servo and Blitz do so. The John Doe Koala sits on Truth's lap. It asks if there are any video cameras around he could emulate. Perrallta, slightly surprised, says that they will see what they can do. Noesis just hovers. Commander Perrallta ask for more details of why we are here...
We (well, Noesis) explain all. A full history of our adventures in space, the Canary Wharf incident, the Brood's ability to take over super heroes and villains to devastating effect, our fears that they may be on their way here. We ask them questions too. They have not seen any Acanti/space ships, other than the original sighting when we first arrived back.
"Hmmm. You should talk to Bascule," Perrallta says. "He is an inventor type. He has powered space armour and is largely responsible for building and maintaining the guard robots on this station."
"I have been having some ideas," says Servo. "I shall have to go away and think about them."
NB: From our examination of the Project Safeguard prisoner roster, The Zombie is the only superhuman present who may not object to being taken over by the Brood - on the grounds that he does not have a mind. He is apparently already dead, and thus practically indestructible.
Noesis asks if the station has a self-destruct mechanism - Commander Perrallta refuses to 'confirm or deny' the existence of one. Noesis takes this as confirmation that it does have one.
Noesis asks if the prisoners are going to be advised of the Brood and the possibility of attack, but the warden says no, "they are already disturbed enough without causing a panic."
Truth notices a large silver amoeba crawling along the outside of the station on one of the spurs with a prison cell on the end. She asks what it is. The warden turns to look, then says it is Flux - an ex-astronaut who had 'an accident' and turned into that form. Flux opens a panel in the skin of the cell-spur and starts work on something inside.
We continue to talk. We are offered extra space suit training if necessary. Perhaps a good idea.
The interview ends. We shake hands with commander Perrallta and are escorted out again by Mr Morgan (the Koala is now lurid purple). Truth shows the Koala one of the security cameras in the ceiling of the corridor, and it starts to disassemble it. The warden does not appreciate this! John Doe stops, but mumbles petulantly.
We follow the white lines towards engineering, to meet with Bascule in the workshops. This initially involves re-tracing our steps back to where we came on board then going off in the opposite direction. After that we want to head for the canteen to eat.
Engineering is still in the rock part of the station, although parts of it obviously extend outside into the force field generators. Truth tests the walls again - still rock, although it is veined with ore and metal deposits.
We are lead into a large workshop. Lining two of the walls are things that look like Borg regeneration alcoves. Each alcove contains a two metre tall robot, roughly human in shape (if rather skeletal) and battleship grey, armed with large blaster rifles which are racked beside them in the alcoves. Servo looks interestedly at them.
The other two walls have workbenches along them. Filling a lot of the available floor space are three things that look like operating tables for robots. On the far side of the furthest one, where it looks like he is operating on one of the robots, is a dark-haired man in his mid twenties. He has only one real limb (his right arm) all the others are robotic, similar in design as those of the robots. He also has an exo-framework across the rest of his body to support the artificial limbs.
A full body suit of powered armour, generically similar to Servo's, and with a blaster racked by it, is also present in the room, in an alcove behind the man. The Koala is released by Truth. It giggles with glee and sets about opening cupboards and rummaging in them. Things start being thrown out of cupboards as John Doe rootles about in them.
"Ah, you must be ze London Knights!" says the man, in a French accent. Noesis offers to compare notes about the Acanti with Bascule. Servo explains his plan to develop a system to see through the Acanti cloaking device.
"I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera, I want a video camera..." says the Koala, bouncing around the room like an over-excited child.
Bascule finds one and holds it gingerly towards the Koala. A chameleon-like tongue shoots out and grabs it. The Koala goes off into a corner and begins dismantling it.
We also show Bascule the Brood blasters. He looks impressed, and comments that he has never seen one so advanced. We loan one to him for further research. Servo and Bascule talk technical for a few moments - the rest of us wait for the technobabble to end and the conversation to return to our level of understanding. Eventually it does.
Noesis discusses the idea of finding a multi minded being - a big clue that they may be incubating a Brood due to the eggs having minds of their own. Psionic powers are discussed, and Bascule mentions the other resident super human, Miss Edgars. She has anti-psionic powers and is used to detect and dampen the powers of the psionic prisoners. She works on the security wing of the station. Robots are also used extensively in the wing which houses the psionic prisoners, being immune to direct psionic attack.
We leave Servo and Bascule talking more technobabble and go off to the canteen. The Koala resists being removed, as he wants to work on and talk about video cameras. He persuades us to leave him there too (Servo reluctantly agrees to this).
We follow the yellow lines canteen-wards. The corridors are quiet (we know that there are only 30 odd crew on board; they are outnumbered 5 to 1 by the prisoners, but the prisoners are outnumbered 2 to 1 by guard robots). Warden Morgan remembers that he was supposed to give us visitors passes, and hands them out, looking slightly shamefaced. Among other things, they identify us to the guard robots, so we won't get shot at. They do not entitle us to go to the reactor, the security centre, the research area and some parts of engineering without an escort.
The canteen is fairly large, bright and airy. It has a long window along one wall looking out into space, through which Earth can be seen, at a slightly different angle than from Commander Perrallta's office. It is fairly well stocked and Truth and Blitz settle down for a good meal. Morgan also has a snack. Noesis just hovers.
There is a general discussion about the prison:
A small old Irish woman dodders towards our table, supporting herself with a stick. She looks quite feeble but her grey eyes are bright and alert. Her hair is silver, and she wears a long-sleeved floor-length black dress. She is carrying a fairly large black shoulder bag. She introduces herself as Mrs Maggie O'Shaugnessy. She had overheard us discussing scanning the inmates to see if they are infested with Brood eggs and/or planning an escape. She concurs with the plan.
Noesis promptly scans the entire room, looking for 'double minds'. Of the eight or nine people in the room, none register as having double minds. Noesis composes a mental list of the people he has scanned.
Mrs O'Shaugnessy describes her role as black magic, or prevention of the same. One particular role is to keep the Morbanes (Demon wizards) and other imprisoned villainous mages under control. Noesis asks if she thinks that magic could be used to detect the Brood eggs. She thinks that it is possible, but not with her magic. She suggests that the inmates Scatterbrain (whom we have met when we took down Deathstroke), Judas Johnston and some of the Morbanes may have appropriate powers for this. The Diabolist, the Red Lotus and Nick Wirricow are other possibilities, but less so she thinks.
From the records we looked at, there are a number 'Category B' prisoners, with less violent tendencies, and typically thieves, on the station. None have magic powers though. The release of these prisoners should the station come under attack is suggested.
We go off to the Commanders office to suggest and arrange a systematic double mind search of the prison. Commander Perrallta is alone this time. The Commander agrees to the plan, and offers to be scanned himself first. Noesis does this, and the Commander is pleased to discover that he is not infected. A list of all the staff and inmates is provided on an electronic clipboard. Truth takes a strange pleasure in using it to keep track of the lists.
It is now 1630 GMT. Mr Morgan is volunteered to download the lists of names and to walk us around the station checking them off. The Commander and the eight staff in the canteen when the first search was performed, including Morgan, are marked as clear.
We leave, and take a meandering route through the Project Safeguard station. En route Noesis discusses the possibility of a vaccination or genetic tendency to resist Brood spores. More research into these possibilities is required.
The Medical Centre is run by the Dutch Dr de Hooke (she is a blonde-haired woman in her early 40's with a round face, grey eyes and some grey hair; her hair is tied back in a bun; she is quite big-built but not fat and she wears a lab coat over her Project Safeguard jump-suit). When the situation is explained she submits to the mind scan and is found to be clear. The nurse who is on duty is also found to be clear. Then we head for Security Control.
Several people we meet on the way are scanned - all are clear.
With Morgan as our escort, we are let into Security Control. The walls of the Security Control room are covered in monitors - all the prisoners and all of the station itself can be viewed from here. Our 'favourites' (i.e. those we put in here) are picked out by Truth.
The head of security is a big, burly blonde German by the name of Lorenz Vinkle. He and the three security guards with him are scanned by Noesis, without any indication on Noesis' part that he is doing so. When Noesis scans one of the security guards - a thin, wiry black woman of average height, plain-looking, with large dark eyes - he is instantly attacked by hideous mental white noise, which stuns and almost knocks him out. He tumbles in the air. As far as the others are concerned, Noesis starts tumbling and one of the security guards turns from her monitor, eyes wide. "He probably shouldn't have done that," she says. As she turns in can be seen that (unlike the other wardens) she has a 'SH' insignia on the right shoulder of her jump-suit.
Noesis recovers, with a headache. "So, err, I, er guess you are the young woman who is resistant to psionic powers," he says. She introduces herself as Tamora Edgars.
She explains that she cannot control her defences - they affect anyone who tries to use psychic powers on her, and no-one with psychic powers can affect her. When she approaches us Noesis can 'hear' the white noise effect in his head, but not in a painful way.
Truth is nominated by Noesis to do these checks on the inhabitants of the psionic wing - Tamora agrees to assist and protect her in this task. She also checks out Tamora by feeling around inside her body to search for Brood eggs - she is 99.9% sure that she is clear, although there is some slightly weird stuff in there (not as weird as Truth's own internal organs, though). Tamora does not look like she enjoys the search...
At this stage all staff except the members of the research department, Flux, Bascule and the SI-12 and USAF guests have been checked. It is now 1800 GMT. We agree to check the rest of the staff today.
We leave Security Control and head for the workshops to check on Servo and John Doe and to scan Bascule.
John Doe is surrounded by bits of camera, and is vaguely camera shaped with some parts sticking out of him. "Pah! Video cameras are hard!" he says. "I can't get the pictures to work properly".
Noesis suggests that he just carries a camcorder
"That's just not the same! Not the same at all," complains John Doe.
Servo appears to be making several things at once. "I am attempting to test a number of hypothesis," he says. "I believe that there are several methods of becoming invisible."
Bascule is working on a robot.
They are all scanned by Noesis. John Doe is clear, Servo's mind cannot be read - but there is only one in there. Bascule is also clear. Noesis also confirms that none of the robots have minds.
We head for the Research Facility.
The Research Facility has a single door with a number of warning signs on it - Biohazard, Radiation Hazard, RF Hazard, Laser Hazard, Magic Hazard (a pentagram in a warning triangle) and Psionic Hazard (the Greek letter Psi in a warning triangle). Mr Morgan pushes the intercom buzzer and a Scandinavian-accented voice answers. Morgan introduces us and our task, and we are let in, through an airlock, with cameras and more of the same warning symbols inside.
We are met by a tall, muscular, blond chap in his forties, with blue eyes, a slight beer belly, a lab coat and, Noesis detects, one mind. However, Truth can detect a slight smell of Brood in here! She goes into sniff mode and starts casting around for its source. "Brood, they've been here!" she says.
"I hope this is not going to interfere with the research unduly," says the blonde chap. He has 'Dr E. Thorvald' on his name tag. Noesis insists on being introduced to the rest of the staff. Blitz tells Mr Morgan to seal off this sector and summon Servo to assist with that, as Truth could not smell the Brood eggs before, only the Brood themselves! Mr Morgan presses an alarm button and calls Servo.
Truth pursues the smell in a different direction to Noesis. Blitz follows her. Dr Thorvald confirms that none of the staff have psionic powers and that there are no prisoners in the research facility at the moment. Noesis scans each member of staff in turn. Dr Thorvald is annoyed by this disruptive activity.
Truth heads for a particular lab - it contains two people, a man and woman at computer terminals. The rest of the room seems to contain medical scanners of some kind. Blitz encourages the two of them to remain calm; he has his force field up and is hovering slightly in the air, hand in a ready-to-blast position. Truth is in gaseous form. Mr Morgan has his blaster out but remains in the background.
Truth sniffs around the lab. Noesis comes up, having found that all the other staff are clear of Brood eggs. The man is scanned and is clear. The woman is scanned - and has only one mind - but it is a Brood Mind!
Truth comes to the same conclusion a fraction of a second later - and the party attacks! Noesis induces pain in the Brood. "Dammed mammal!" she hisses. Her form starts to flow as she reverts back into Brood form. The man in the room cowers behind his desk. Dr Thorvald curses in Swedish. "My God," says Mr Morgan.
In fully winged Brood form it leaps at Blitz.
Blitz tries to grapple it, not entirely successfully, but pumps energy into it. It looks unwell but is not down. The Brood swings its tail around and stabs him with its stingers. Blitz is caught in the leg - a minor cut but he can feel poison beginning to burn through him...
Noesis repeats his attack and the Brood twitches and convulses in Blitz's grip. Blitz takes this opportunity to put his hands on either side of its head and attempts to pump its brain full of nuclear energy. It convulses again and says weakly, "Puny Mammals, you will all pay." It snaps at Blitz's hands, sinking its teeth into his left hand. Blitz's force field resists the bite so that he retains all of his hand, but some damage is done even so.
Noesis attacks it again - it convulses again and goes limp. Blitz pushes his other hand into its eye and blasts it again. He burns a hole through its head. Noesis confirms that it is dead. The Brood begins to dissolved into noxious slime. Truth tells Blitz that he has been poisoned and advises the use of Servo's healing box. Blitz limps to the door and asks for it to be opened.
Noesis searches around. He finds several types of drug, many of which are experimental and not certified for human use, others of which are not intended for use on humans at all, but on animals. He collects them up. He then takes a blood sample from Blitz (once Blitz drops his force field, which blunts the first needle he tries this with), and a sample of the goo into which the Brood has dissolved.
The research facility's door is opened. Outside are Servo, Bascule, and about a dozen armed guard robots. Servo comes in and slaps his healing box on Blitz's leg, which quickly starts to feel better.
Noesis and Truth discuss the possibility (probability) that this Brood has infected others - most likely other prisoners who have been worked on in this research facility. The Brood doctor, Dr Vulcanescu, has been working here for less than a year, Dr Thorvald tells us. She was a biological/medical researcher as opposed to a researcher into superpowers. She has had contact with the prisoners.
We decide that it is now urgent to scan the rest of the station - The SI-12 and USAF guests, Flux and the prisoners - with those who have been in contact with the Brood doctor being a priority.
The PA system clicks into action "Flux, Mrs Rotherwood, Ms Sejnowski - report to the research facility for scanning by Noesis immediately!"
After a short time the three of them arrive at the research facility. Noesis scans them. Rotherwood and Sejnowski both have protected minds that Noesis cannot read, but are clear of Brood. Flux comes flowing up along the ceiling. It (he) has a normal 'looking' mind, which is very resistant to Noesis' scan, but which is also clear. When the scan is over it speaks, in a Mid West American accent, saying it will get back to work then, but it has no visible mouth. It flows off again.
A list of the prisoners researched on since Dr Vulcanescu is retrieved by her recent office partner, on orders from Dr Thorvald. He passes a list of 55 prisoners, in chronological order, to us. Truth picks out the psionic related prisoners by comparing with the list she already has. Noesis takes the others. A plan to contact each other depending on what is found is put together:
And off we go to do this thing...