Mission: Bad Science Saves the Day

[initiates]

Date & Time: Mid-Day, 3310 | Present Day June 14th-16th
Location: Andersfeld, in the (far former) state of Alaska. (Also known at one time as Anchorage, Alaska.) | Back in Exsilium, those manning the Transport Pads, or working on developing the antibiotics and administering them to the ill throughout the city. Yet others will need to hop-scotch through time gathering sufficient supplies to save lives.
Characters: Volunteers to alter medical research, people working on antiobiotic cures, people distributing appropriate cures, and those who are doing minor missions into the past to retrieve adequate supplies to treat the sick in the present.
Summary: Transports are asked to help save tens of thousands of lives, first by traveling two years into the past and altering scientific research. Second, by helping with the manufacture and development of antibiotics or other cures, once the mission is complete. Third, by distributing the cure to the affected parties. Fourth, by going on pointed supply missions solo, or with up to two other people, in order to get enough supplies to save people in the present.

Whatever your character decides to do, the weight of saving lives is on their shoulders, unasked, and perhaps unwelcome. What will they do when faced with this decision?

Warnings: Illness. Freezing cold. Possible death. Drunken scientists.

In Andersfeld, the snow falls in thick, fat flakes, winds blowing in gusts up to 60 kph. Everyone is bundled up against the weather. Spirits are generally low, if not outright alcoholic. Safety lines and lights guide those brave enough to venture outdoors from building to building.

For the Transports with a six hour window to alter a future that will kill over a hundred thousand people in three weeks, it's a dangerous and necessary bravery.

In Exsilium, the success of the mission to Andersfeld is felt as soon as scientists notice the virus responding to antibiotic treatments. It becomes a race to finding the most effective means of combating the now bacterial infection, and of mass producing any working cure for distribution.

Some help with the production.

Others hurry to cart the supply out to the places hit most heavily. Yet others work directly with administering the antibiotics, in most cases, via an IV line. Those less heavily affected will be granted ridiculously large antibiotic pills, needing to be coaxed down spasming throats.

Those who need action, or who are no good with the sick, are asked to make countless small trips through time to secure the supplies needed to produce enough of the cure to save the tens of thousands who are ill but not yet deceased.

And for those too ill to assist, now is the time to rest, heal, and get better. In a world like this, one never knows what surprise might next lie in wait. The Transports and the Initiative have thwarted total disaster for now.

Mostly.

Comments

Andersfield Mission; Shin^2

[imusntrunaway]

[Having been raised in an environment of eternal summer, Shinji was unprepared for the vicious cold that awaited him when they stepped out. He thought Exsilium was cold--he won't think of it that badly when he got back. Heavily bundled as he was, he still shivered almost violently. He's begun to recover from his fever, but at this rate he was bound to get sick again.

But he couldn't stay behind this time. He didn't want to watch those close to him suffer and fight while he sat uselessly behind. This mission... he can pull it off, can't he? All that he needs to do is to plug a USB in and he's done. It's easier than the other missions he's carried out. He can do this. He can make himself useful.

He clutches the safety line with an trembling grip, blindly pulling himself towards the next building. He can't feel it too well through the hazmat suit. Visibility is almost zero. He stops halfway there, letting the winds batter him as he turns the best he can to see if his partner's keeping up.]

[substitutable]

[Shintaro's world had seasons, but the metropolitan parts of Japan rarely reached temperatures this low. If it snowed this badly, people stayed inside to avoid the dangers. Never in his life back there would he have experienced this coldness and blizzard, especially not while wearing a hazmat suit, only days after returning from the dead. He tries not to think too much about the last point lest he'd start shaking and stop walking, like all terrible thoughts tended to make him do.

Being sick hadn't been nice. Being sick, watching his sister get sick, and watching Kido and Kano come all the way up to check on them despite their sickness. Making Nagisa worry, and making even someone like Jade worry enough that he would make them medicine. And the girl with the red scarf who tried to make him feel better... The sickness made him cause people trouble, and it made people miserable. The cold bites at his skin despite the clothes he wore and the suit, and he still feels sluggish, and he doesn't really know what his reason for being on this mission is.

But he sees Shinji, walking ahead of him, turn a little and he sticks out one arm to show him a thumbs up. It didn't matter how tired he was or why he was here. Just complete the mission. It'll help people. He has to focus, so he doesn't get in Shinji's way. He nods toward his partner and grips the safety line tighter.]

[imusntrunaway]

[He can barely see that thumbs up. But it's enough to confirm that Shintaro was still here. Reassured, he turns back to face the raging blizzard and hauls himself forward.

One step. Two steps. Three steps. He counts them in his head. If Shinji focuses on solid facts and numbers, maybe he could ignore the shaking of his body. Once this was over, the rest should be easy.

When his hand hits a wall, relief washes over him. Cautiously, he feels alongside it until he finds the entrance. He fumbles for the ID badge and holds open the door for Shintaro.

Inside isn't much warmer than outside. But the wind can't assault them in here--a welcome break. Shinji steadies himself, a hand on the wall, taking a moment to catch his breath.]

... are you all right?

[substitutable]

[He nods as he steps inside, quickly so Shinji can close the door as quickly as possible.

It's easier to stand and walk without the wind, but if he relaxed now he doesn't think his legs wold want to support him again, so Shintaro puts his hands on his knees to catch his breath but straightens up only a couple seconds later. It's cold; at least the chill is keeping the sleepiness away.]

... Yeah. I can keep going. Are you all right?

[imusntrunaway]

Yes. [Aside from a dizzying feeling, he's fine. He's pushed past worse than this. Shinji waits to see if Shintaro's fine before he turns around.]

I think it's this way.

[He isn't too familiar with the lab's layout, but finding a computer shouldn't be a problem. Just follow the signs. He walks briskly, checking the hallways to see if there was anyone else.]

[substitutable]

[There probably wasn't much of a brief, hardly enough to memorize any map of the laboratory's layout if there even was one. Security cameras, guards, scientists -- they can't predict any of that. If he'd brought Ene, he might've been able to have her watch their back through his phone's camera, but taking her so far away from her body was too much of a risk.]

I can memorize the path we take. If we need to, we'll backtrack.

[So he follows Shinji, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they're not being followed.]