Dog Days of Summer
[Skill check results listed in brackets to record their successes]
August 9th, 1986: The last days of summer are here; 2 weeks before school starts back up. With the average high temps 100* and less than 6” rain all year, it’s a dry heat! And few homes have air conditioning. Kids all over Boulder City swarm the Arcade Emporium, the movie theater, air-conditioned malls, or go swimming in pools or at the beach in a desperate attempt to stay cool.
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Eric (Mike): spent Thursday night re-reading
Poe’s “The Raven.” Woke up in the morning to see a raven sitting at on his
open bedroom sill, saying “Nevermore.” He suddenly realized mom was rousting him,
“Eric, wake up or you’ll be late for Lacrosse.” Eric stumbled down the stairs
finding mom and his grandparents already at the breakfast table. Eric handed
mom the morning paper as he tried to remember, “You wouldn’t believe the
dream I had.” As mom blasted off for work, Eric sought refuge from the heat at
the local golf club water-hazard. |
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Lukas (Aaron): so wanted to sleep in late
but mom woke him for breakfast before she had to leave for work. As Lukas
overfilled his cereal bowl, mom asked about a newspaper article, “Do you know
this kid, Darrel? He was injured while tubing out on Lake Mead. Paper says he
was attacked by birds and is still in the hospital.” Once mom left, Lukas
skipped out the door with a smile on his face, “One less bully to worry about for the week.” |
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Ace (Whitney): the house maid knocked on his door, “Come have
breakfast with your parents before they head off to work.” Ace rolled out of
bed and put on his Walkman headphones for another KISS song as he opened the
frig door to drink straight from the milk carton. Neither mom or dad reacted
as they didn’t watch what became a standard routine. Instead, dad challenged
mom, “There’s a bet in the office about calling crazy old Mr. Boyd to
see if he needs a lawyer. Story goes he broke his legs when he tried to fly
with wings like Icarus. Won’t touch that case with a 10ft pole!” Mom and dad
worked as lawyers at different firms. |
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Evan (Jordan): mom got up first to fix her makeup and dress before her husband got up; she had to look her best. Evan opened his bedroom window to let his stray cat Whispers out before coming down to do his chores before breakfast. Mostly heard grumbling from his dad till younger Sarah arrived late for breakfast, “How’s my little beauty doing today?” Evan couldn’t wait to rush off to the theater to beat the heat. And that’s when he spied the bully leader, Randy. And tried to stalk him to gather blackmail on him. [Stealth 0] Except that little weasel Joey caught Evan trailing his leader, “Hey Randy, look who’s trying to follow you.”  Evan meekly coughed up a reply, “Hey guys… long time no see...” He
bolted past Joey who yelled out, “That’s right, scaredy cat, better run
before I slug you.” |
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Ein (Joey): woke and had breakfast with
mom before she left for work at the salon. Which gave Ein silence to play
with NES. Till the batteries wore out. He headed to the local Radio Shack
store for batteries and a new cassette for his HX-20. As he left the store, he
saw a group of kids poking at 5 dead pigeons, while crows flew
overhead. The other kids let out an “Ewe!” when Ein picked up a dead bird to
examine it. He noticed the small incision on its skull and saw a microchip inserted.
“Don’t you know you can catch germs from dead birds. Haven’t you heard about
‘Avian Flu’?” Ein dropped the pigeon in disgust and left to find his friends. |
0930, Later that morning: Walkie-Talkie chatter gathered the group in the park where they hoped to plan the rest of the day. A few pigeons flushed from the grass while others pecked and poked and gathered twigs and nesting material. Eric gasped when he thought he heard them talking in mechanical voices… “gather food”… “build nest”. Ein asked, “Did you hear that?!” Answered by other calls from above… “CaCaw, CaCaw”. Crows swooped down to attack the pigeons who scattered. The crows continued their attack, even against the kids.
Eric ran for the Arcade while tossing trail-mix as hopefully distraction [0]. Ein pulled out his HX-20 laptop to search for crow weaknesses [2], while Evan whistled for his own pet raven (Graves) to come to his aid [1]. While Ace swung his guitar in defense [1], Lukas swung his skateboard to attack [1]. Maybe Eric failed because he heard the departing pigeons cry out “Nevermore, nevermore” which only scared him more [Condition]. But with Ein’s instructions, they drove off the crows.
Which gave
Lukas chance to look skyward and spot a Goshawk circling overhead. Eric peeked
out of the arcade to see the same, [Comprehend 1] “Strange. I thought little
birds usually attacked such predators in defense of their nests. But those
crows seem to be delivering pigeon kill to the hawk as if it their leader.”
As Lucas and Evan poked at dead
birds (pigeon and crow alike), Ace asked, “Evan, what the heck? You have a
crow?!” Eric inched closer, keeping his eyes skyward in fear they might come
back, “I see the predators flying north. Do you think someone has a control
devise?” Ace came to Eric’s aid, playing a soothing KISS song (Best) to calm
him. Ein relayed his prior encounter
with crows and pigeons, “I found dead ones with small incisions and chips
inserted.” Which got them thinking about who might help. [Contact 1] “Maybe our
science teacher, coach Davis.” Ace remembered, “I heard my parents talking
about a Mr. Boyd. Potential lawsuits but I think I heard them say he’s a
bird-watcher. He might know.”
Noon, Boyd
House: They looked up Boyd’s address in
the phonebook, near Foxtrot Gate. Ein concerned, “What if HE is controlling the
birds?” They arrived to find the wooden house surrounded by an 8-foot fence, overgrown
garden painted white with bird poop, birdhouses and feeders everywhere. 100+
birds of all kind, smells of bird droppings everywhere. Initial
fear these birds might attack soon subsided as they looked peaceful. Ein and
Eric balked, “I’m not going in there!” Ace agreed, “Not getting MY cloths
dirty.” But Evan was already trying to climb, “Someone can at least give me a boost.”
And that’s when they saw someone moving inside the house. A man hobbling around
peg-legged, swatting at something flying around him; him fighting it off.
Eric and Lukas joined Evan as
they worked together to climb. Ein went to the gate to unlock the keypad [1]
while Ace waited behind him. Evan, Lukas, and Eric made it over and rushed
towards the house. Eric stopped to watch the sky for any hawks. Ein and Ace
soon joined the others on the porch as they got through the gate. Inside, they
found the floor covered in newspapers, birds sitting on the back of the couch,
others perched on the curtain rods, and one lone budgie parakeet swooping about
the man with casts on his legs. “Don’t just stand there, help me fight it off!”
Evan grabbed the afghan blanket
off the couch hoping to throw over the man to save him. Lukas readied his
skateboard to attack the small little bird. [Investigate 1] But Ace intervened,
“Don’t hurt it. Can’t you see the seeds falling out of the man’s pockets. It’s
just trying to get at his treats.” Sure enough, with the blanket thrown over the
man, the parakeet landed on the floor to eat the seeds.
Christopher Boyd wasn’t
satisfied, “You saw it, it tried to bite me! Just like those other birds out at
the lake. I’ve seen them gathering. Dozens or more flying around those islands.
Yeah, the pigeons are nesting out there on Big Boulder island, but they are
more organized than normal.” Ein spoke up, “Did you know they can talk?!” Evan
pulled out the dead birds he’d collected, “And look, someone has cut their
skulls open to insert chips. And there’s an antenna glued to their backs and dangles
with their tail feathers as if they can receive signals.”
Now Boyd understood, “I wondered
what that man was up to. Donald Dixon from the Loop approached me back in
January. Asking about the neural pathways of birds. He even asked for my help
on some project. But I just felt something wrong. Leave nature alone I said. I
went back months later to tell him that, but he wasn’t home. His busy-body
neighbor said he’d packed up and left days earlier. That explains why the birds
are working together. The pigeons to cluster in defense, the crows in attack
swarms. Crows are independent creatures. But those… they’re working together.” Boyd remembered the newspaper article. He
picked up the weekend paper from the floor and swiped the poop off, “Here it
is. Article about a kid attacked out on a boat on the lake. So, it’s true, they
are attacking people too. Why, why if they multiple and form an army… a legend
of attack birds… think of the threat to our city. To our state!”
Ein plugged one of the microchips
from a dead bird into his HX-20 and was able to download its code [3]. “You can
see codes that allows communication. Looks the same from both type birds. I
guess the pigeons talk while the crows probably communicate telepathically. Or their
‘CaCaws’ how they coordinate attacks.” Lukas remembered the Goshawk flying
overhead the crows that attacked them and the pigeons and them earlier, “Maybe
IT is the Alpha… their leader giving commands.”
1400: Before they left, Boyd offered a reward, “Can someone
take this parakeet away. He’s possessed. You saw him attack me. His name is Blue
Boy.” Eric turned to ask, “So, how did you break your legs? Did you really
try to fly like a bird? Like Icarus, the Greek god?” It was the first time Boyd
laughed, “Where did you hear such a silly story. I was putting another
birdhouse on the roof and stepped in the bird poop, and slipped off. Broke bother
legs.” Eric gave Evan a scrunched-jaw look per his lawyer story. He said
goodbye to Boyd, “Sounds like you had a crap day.” Ein put the bird cage in his
bike basket. Ace gathered birdseed. Evan introduced his pet raven to the parakeet,
“Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite unless commanded.” Eric grumbled, “You’d think if
he was going to offer a reward…” Ace suggested going to the shoreline to look
out at Bog Boulder island. [Lead 1] But Ein convinced them to go to Dixon’s
house.
Dixon house
near the Cooling Towers: And
sure enough, across the street, a face planted in the window watching. Ace
parked his bike and went up to her door, “Good afternoon mam. I’ll selling Boy Scout
cookies.” Gladys Kravetz gave him a stern look, “I make my own cookies. What makes
yours so special?” Lukas and Ein joined in the ruse, “It’s for a good cause.” Eric
was more concerned looking for a broadcast tower that might be sending signals.
Meanwhile, Evan used the distraction to sneak behind Dixon’s house to break in.
And found the sliding patio door unlocked. And that’s when his walkie-talkie
crackled to life, “Ghost-rider to Raven. Come in.” Evan recognized the voice
but looked confused, “Ghost-rider? I thought you said your callsign was Artax?”
Ace ignored him, “So, are you in, over?”
Evan stepped inside and began to
search when he heard a dog barking and heard the scramble of the Dachshund (Weiner
dog) bounding down the stairs. More hobble than bound…a hurt leg. The beast yapped
and yapped as Evan backed up… not so much afraid but delaying. Ace arrived to
offer birdseed. Lukas offered his hand… [Charm 0] and was promptly bitten
[Condition]. Ace played a song on his Walkman to sooth the dog that began
licking his hand. Meanwhile, Eric searched the house for pictures of this Dixon
man [2]. He found them: but they were more Dixon photobombing some woman
getting an award. More pictures of the same with him in the background. Another
picture of just her.
But while Eric was looking, he
also saw movement at the top of the stairs. Eyes peeking through the slats of
the railing. A young girl who realized she’d been seen. She stepped forward, “What
are you doing in my uncle’s house? Leave ‘Hams’ alone. Can’t you see he’s hurt
already?!” They explained what they knew, “We think your uncle may be involved.”
Stacey now
concerned, “You didn’t call the police did you? You didn’t let that woman
across the street see you? Me? I ran away from home in Las Vegas when my dad
hit poor Hams and hurt his leg. I thought Uncle Donald might put me up; let me
spend the rest of the summer here. But he wasn’t home; hasn’t been home since I
got here days ago. His notes said something about islands; so, I’ve been out at
the beach with binoculars watching pigeons gather on Big Boulder island. Other
predator birds also circle it, picking off stragglers.”
Evan was already secretly putting
a picture of Dixon in his backpack when he heard mention of notes for a second
time. And began searching [3]. He found Donald’s diary on the nightstand. And
read all about his infatuation with a Miss Janet Thompson who USED to work at the
Loop. Just like Donald till May when he quit to join Janet at IEX-4Z32. He also
found a folder obviously taken from the Loop that diagrammed a machine that did
something with neural pathways. As for the IEX part, Evan theorized it some
kind of code or ID. Eric asked Ein if there was a code on the chip from the
birds. Nope. Ein realized Lukas’ mom worked at a library, “Maybe you could call
her to look it up.” “Hello mom, can you help us look up an ID?” They could hear
a keyboard clacking as she typed. She soon reported, “It’s the ID number of an
old Russian magnetrine cargo ship rusting out in the Sentinel Island scrapyard.
Why do you ask?” Evan got on the phone, “We saw a zoomed in picture with that
number and I bet them it was from a ship. You own me Lukas. Thanks Mrs.
Strange.”
As Eric loaded up the diary and
files to his Kindle [they weren’t really invented till 2007], Ein analyzed the
file diagram [Calculate 1]. “Drawings of birds and miniature microchips,
the diagram is of a machine to implant chips in birds.” Evan looked over his shoulder
[Calculate 1], “Yeah but the diagram
lacks details on how to control the birds.”
1600: They looked at their watches, “Crap,
I need to get home before supper. We need to pick this up tomorrow.” Eric suggested
a sleepover at Ace’s house, “You’re the rich kid with air-conditioning and
parents that don’t care. We could slip out at night to check out the island.” [Condition]
But Ein quivered, “If I get caught… say hello to the hand.” The others looked
at him quizzically. Ein made the motion of his hand swinging as if a paddling.
Ace comforted him, “Don’t worry, I’ll get my mom to call and tell your mom.
Everyone trusts lawyers. She’ll never know.” Mrs. Plunker called the other
parents and soon the other kids arrived with a sleepover bag. Ace’s live-in maid
(Miss Patsy) made them Jiffy-Pop popcorn and brownies. After going through the
motions of saying goodnight to his parents, they settled in the basement where
Ace had all his music equipment. [Program 2] Ein and Ace coordinated looping a
snoring tape to play through the speakers. Ace tried to calm Ein, “Don’t worry,
I do this all the time.”
CLIMAX/SHOWDOWN (Threat level 12)
1. Objective- shutdown the microchip
implant machine inside the derelict ship out on Sentinel Island.
1.1 Steps
1.1.1 Get to the island
1.1.2 Deal with attacking predator birds:
Force/Move- to drive them
off or kill them.
Sneak/Tinker- to short-out
their chip implant.
1.1.3 Get aboard
Sneak- to get past Donald.
Else,
1.1.4 Deal with Dixon
Charm/Force- to get Donald
to see the error of his ways, or to pin him to the ground.
1.1.5 Break the machine
Tinker/Program/Force
2. Plan
3. Execute
4. Consequences
2300, Getting to the Island: They snuck out the basement door and rode their bikes to the beach as planned. Originally Eric suggested they “borrow” canoes from the campground to paddle out. But others pointed out none of them knew how to canoe. Evan suggested borrowing a boat from the marina, “Come on Ace, you’re telling me your parents don’t own one?”
They
settled on using the Loop Transport Tunnels that ran under the lake to each of
the islands. They opened the hatch near the campground and lowered their bikes
inside. Lukas lowered a canoe, “Just in case we can’t get back through the tunnels.”
He strapped the canoe to his skateboard and drug it behind his bike as they
rode through the tunnel using the spinning-wheel-gear attachment that powered their
bike’s headlight. [2 toward Threat Level]
Midnight: They opened the hatch on Sentinel
island and immediately realized they’d made a good choice, “Look at all the
birds flying around. We would have been attacked if we canoed or boated in.”
They looked south and saw the lights of Boulder City on the horizon. They only had
moonlight to work with… at least they could see the Milky Way overhead. But
they also saw dim light radiating from a ship further up the island shoreline. “That
must be IEX-4Z32.”
Dealing with the
birds:
·
Ein programmed
the microchip he carried and coded his own command as the new Alpha-bird, “Attack the machine”. [Program
0…Luck 3- used one to heal his Condition (so proud of his accomplishment)] [1 toward Threat Level]
Predatory birds overhead flew towards the ship and entered the storage hatch on
the top deck.
·
Ace placed
birdseed on the ground and backed up to then pull the guitar off his back and
began to play “Free Bird” to draw the birds toward him. [Charm 3] Just as he
expected. [Complication -1 success] Which was a problem… birds overhead and some
of those who’d entered the ship flew towards the sound [His 3 result beat Ein’s
2 result]. [1 toward
Threat Level]
·
But Ace soon
realized the birds didn’t seem to notice or care about the seed. Eric saw the same
thing and radioed over the walkie-talkie, “Tomahawk to Ghost-rider, use your Walkman
and put it in the tunnel to draw them in and close the hatch.” The birds did as expected.
Ace slammed the hatch trapping most of the birds. [1 toward Threat Level]
Getting
Aboard: Soon Ace joined the others who
stood beside the ship and noticed the hatch on the side of the ship was barred
closed from the outside. A metal ladder led up the side of the ship.
·
Lukas and Ein
chose to climb [Sneak 2, 0] Lukas aided Ein, “Take your shoes off to be
quieter.” They made it to the top and looked inside the storage hatch where
they saw light flowing out and heard the hum of machinery. They leaned closer
and saw birds pecking at the metal arms that were synchronized: one pulled a
bird from a cage and handed it to another arm with padded clamps that held the
bird still as another arm held a scalpel to then cut the skull. Another arm
then inserted a microchip as another arm glued the incision while also gluing a
thin trailing wire antenna to the bird’s spine as the end of the antenna
dangled with the bird’s tailfeathers. The bird was released and it immediately
began attacking the arms without success. [0 toward Threat Level]
·
[Investigate
1, 0, 3] Meanwhile, Evan, Ace, and Eric pondered what to do about the hatch, “It’s
barred from the outside. As if trying to keep something in. You sure this a
good idea?” But Evan ignored the worry and began removing the bar. [Force 1] At
least he didn’t drop it. They held their breath as they opened the hatch
(worried it would creak). They heard the thrum of the ship engine or some
generator powering the lights and the machine above. And that’s when they saw
Dixon inside an adjoining room with his door open. [2 toward Threat Level]
Break the machine:
· Eric whispered
his plan to Evan, “You’re better sneaking than me. Here’s the ship diagram. Go
through that hatch to the engine room and shut off the power. Ace and I will
watch the man in case he wakes.”
· Meanwhile, up
in the hold, the boys climbed down near the machine. [Tinker 0] Lukas tried to
free the birds in the cage so no more birds would be modified. He got his hand
stuck in the cage. [Program 4] Ein opened the panel on the machine and began
entering code. It wasn’t long before the machine began its new task: an arm
plucked a bird that was attacking its metal arm and handed it off to the padded
arm that held it still. Another arm sliced the skull open so another arm
could remove the chip and antenna. One after another, a bird was deprogrammed. [3 toward Threat Level]
· Back below, [Sneak
0…luck 0] Evan pulled the hatch and froze as the hinges grated. Donald Dixon
sat up in his bed, “Who’s there? Diane, it that you? Have you returned to help?”
Evan commanded Graves ‘attack” as he found the light switch and flicked it off.
Using his own flashlight, he continued his search inside the engine room. [Investigate
2] He pulled the main circuit breaker, plunging the ship into total darkness. [1 toward Threat Level]
o Ace was moving toward a corner to hide from Donald when the
lights went out. [Sneak 0] Ace tripped and fell, bashing his knee [Condition].
o Evan’s pet raven was flying towards Donald when the
lights went out. It landed at first chance.
o Eric froze in place.
Dealing with
Donald: Ein and Lukas used their
flashlights to come downstairs. Once again Donald called out, “Diane, is that
you?” But when he saw the kids, he knew better, “What are you doing aboard?”
Evan could hear from the other room (since all machines were now off) and
turned the power back on to restore lighting. All the kids confronted Mr.
Dixon. Eric was the first to accuse Donald of being a bad man, “How could you
program the bids to attack people?!” Donald was surprised, “What are you
talking about? I’m programming the birds to interact. Speech so they can
communicate. So we can communicate with them.” Ein showed the peck marks on his
arm. Lukas showed the newspaper article about Darrel being hurt and in the
hospital.
Evan came out of the engine room
and mentioned, “Your niece Stacey is waiting at your house worried about you.
Don’t you think you’ve caused enough harm?”
Donald truly felt remorseful and immediately used Ein’s reprogramming
to de-chip all the birds he could gather. Afterwards, he rushed home to see
Stacey and hug her and explain what he’d done wrong, “I thought I was doing
something good. Something that would bring Diane back to me. Oh, how I was so
wrong. Can you forgive me?” [1 toward Threat Level]
[Total Successes: anything over 1, less any used to heal conditions = 12]
They opened
the Loop Transport Tunnel hatch to return home. Birds flew out and headed
for the ship. As they climbed inside, Ace found his Walkman pecked to pieces.
BEHIND
THE SCREEN
Diane Peterson was a child
wonder in school and quickly graduated and employed by the Loop to work on:
genetics, neurology, and robotics. Except, she was too hyper and rarely
finished a project. Which resulted in her boss docking her, then finally having
to fire her when she failed to follow directives. Unknown to the staff, she
had taken work home with her. She secretly continued her work with the help of
Donald Dixon who had fallen madly in love with her at first sight (the
affection not returned). Nevertheless, Donald resigned to secretly help her
with her work.
They used an abandoned magnetrine shipwreck on Sentinel
island to continue their work, maybe for revenge, but in hopes of proving
the staff wrong about Diane. Her carelessness and impatience led to some birds
gaining speech and a form of human intelligence while others became aggressive
and attacked them. Diane gave up and left. Donald stayed on in hopes of winner
her back. Donald has gone insane and continues to implant chips despite the
birds more aggressive.
FADEOUT
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Ein (Joey): as he walked home from the
sleepover, Ein worried he’d be caught. But a full night without sleep…he
crashed on his bed and sleep most of the day. It was almost 2pm when his mom woke
him, “Ein, hurry up. You’ll be late for your Robotics competition.” Ein
quickly sat up and grabbed the team robot only to realize it wouldn’t power
up. The battery compartment empty. And that’s when Ein’s little brother Slack
looked in, “What? I needed batteries for my remote-controlled car.” Ein had minutes
to replace the batteries and reprogram the robot before the competition. |
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Eric (Mike): got home late in the morning,
still thinking about his dream the other morning. He found his uncle to talk
about some of his adventure. Later mom arrived to hand him a box, “I have a
surprise for you.” Eric opened it to find a costume. “Grandmother made it for
you for this weekends’ tribal dance ceremony. Try it on.” |
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Lukas (Aaron): tried to pretend nothing
happened. He chatted with the others on the walkie-talkie, “Are you going to
tell your parents?” But Evan passed along bad news, “I was following Randy and
noticed him playing your favorite Super Mario game. He got so
frustrated he couldn’t beat your score; he unplugged the machine. All the
scores are erased. You’ll have to start over.” |
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Ace (Whitney): was half-heartedly excited about the adventure with
his friends. He almost wanted to share with his parents but settled for Miss
Patsy. Later that day, mom and dad gave him a present, “We thought this might
clear the tension between us.” She opened it to find a guitar signed by ‘The
Ramones.” [rival band to KISS]. They just don’t understand. Miss Patsy handed
her another gift… a new Walkman. |
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Evan (Jordan): rushed home early to feed
his pets. He stroked his raven’s feathers, “We don’t need technology and
machines to be able to communicate, do we Graves.” Suddenly, his special
walkie-talkie crackled. His uncle… “Grunt to Raven, come in. I’ve got a
job for you. The NBA draft was rigged. The Knicks managed to pick Patrick
Ewing. Word on the street is the commissioner Stern used X-Ray glasses to
pick the correct envelope. Ask your dad if the Loop has developed such
glasses. Never mind, he wouldn’t tell the truth anyway.” https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2468653-the-frozen-envelope-the-nbas-greatest-conspiracy-theory |
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