In an interview with Neil Hart, creator of the aliens in
"Bughunt on Rlyeh", winner of this year's Critter Competition...
RC: "You seem quite attached to your critter..."
NH: Interrupting, "You can't just call it a critter. It really is
the ultimate in destruction. When I designed it a ran through
infinite regression tests and self-improving loops. The generator
was self modifying and self-constructing. My aliens came out
of the other end. It is the ultimate."
RC: "Neil, you do take this all rather personally. Surely, no matter
how devised, you critter, sorry, alien, is just a collection of
heuristics and behavioural algorithms? There will be other
projects."
NH: "Your DNA is just a collection of heuristics and behavioural
algorithms. Did your mother move on to something else after
you? Yes, I have other projects in mind." He smiles here. "But
I'm not telling..."
Neil Hart has become increasingly dissatisfied in Red Wizard
software. Even his own workgroup which helped with Bughunt have distanced
themselves from him due to his refusing to share the glory of their
program's success. Through hackers he has gotten wind that senior
managment and The Red Wizard (who personally doesn't like him) have made
a committment to the group to change him from being their leader. He
was in the process of fortifying his position when he was approached
by Tersad Bio-Engineering, PLC.
Tersad is not a very reputable company and has been the subject
of several Imperial investigations. Over its 140 year history it has been
found guilty of experimental testing on humans, selling fatal viruses
without researching cures, eugenics research, environment destroying
bacteria and several other major ethical counts.
The interview with Neil Hart caught their attention. Many of their
major customers are military bent on destruction by any means possible.
Neil is correct: "DNA is just a collection of heuristics and behavioural
algorithms." What Tersad seek to do is to implement the heuristics of
Neils alien, not in virtual reality, but in a genetic lab.
Neil doesn't know enough about genetics to tell them it can
definately be done but he is sure that the same self-modifying, etc,
techniques can be applied in genetic simulation to produce the same
result. He has agreed to sell out to them.
Several possibilities for adventures exist:
*) Assisting in the extraction of Neil Hart. Either Neil or Tersad
has approached the players. They are to be hired to get Neil and
several datacards from a restricted area of Red Wizard Software
on Serabi Spaceport to the Tersad system.
*) Finding Neil Hart. Red Wizard Software hires the players to find
out where he has gone and to recover stolen property.
*) Investigation of Tersad. An inside mole has tipped off the Imperial
authorities that something is up in Tersad. The players are hired
as an unofficial agency to infiltrate and investigate.
*) Neil wants out of Tersad. Either because he can now see the gross
inhumanity of their operation (they only use "volunteers" now for
testing) or because he has discovered he can't deliver what he
promised. He contacts the players to help in his own extraction.
*) Neil has a change of heart. The alien synthesis is successful.
After seeing the aliens tested on real people he decideds that
his creation shouldn't really see the light of day. He hires the
players to extract him. Their mission is helped by the fact that
he has engineered one fatal flaw into the creatures (they don't
like light opera music).
*) Contact is lost with Tersad Bio-Engineering. The players either
have to deliver a shipment to the remote base or are called in
to investigate. The base has been taken over by aliens.
*) The planet of Tersad is experiencing major problems with an
invasion of aliens. The players mercenary unit is called in to
guard or rescue a rich patrons estate.
Next project:
Can anyone out there design me an Alien?