Justin Moore

Justin Moore. Black hair, black eyes, dark brown skin, runner's build. Science Op, xenobiologist. Day job: hot-shot consultant in the biotech industry. Favorite weapon: natural selection, but sometimes he has help it along with something small, sharp, and toxic. He also has his Tai Kwon Do expertise to fall back on, or jump forward with, as required. Quote: "Careful -- the big circle of life might be getting ready to roll right over your ass."
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Author's Note: Tai Kwon Do
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Charles Cee MacClare

Charles Cee MacClare. Sandy-haired, green eyed, with a big square jaw on a big square face. Often wears monogrammed sweaters. Also wears gold-framed aviator-style data-glasses, which are really a wireless internet display. Tech Op, engineer, "black" helicopter pilot. Thanks to his extensive contacts in the corporate and financial worlds, the Company also calls upon him to do a lot of economic, political, and public-relations "engineering." Day jobs: billionaire playboy, surfing bum (separate identities). Favorite weapon: a Glock he keeps in a shoulder holster, usually hidden under the sweater. Also an expert boxer. Quote: "Greed is good, but a mutually profitable exchange is better. That lets everyone be greedy."
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Author's Note: Glock. Probably a .45 caliber.
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Malcolm Jimenez

Malcolm Jimenez. Black hair, brown eyes, tan skin, short, a little overweight but otherwise in good shape. An excellent cook, unfortunately also an excellent eater, and it shows. A Baltimore baseball fan since childhood, he's often seen wearing his old Orioles hat. Intel Op trained to anticipate global threats. Day jobs: construction worker and gang enforcer under a number of false identities. Favorite weapon: Bunker-busting bombs, but for personal use makes do with an automatic pistol. Quote: "What they don't know won't hurt us." The other team leader, Mal's team includes Justin, Rex, and Veronica.
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Author's note:
Baltimore Orioles. Mal's hat is a replica of the 1988 Cooperstown Clean Up -- image here. What a Long Strange Trip Dept. -- I believe it was 1988 when I selected this to be Mal's hat.
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Ginger Delaney

Ginger Delaney. Neck-length red hair, usually in a ponytail. Green eyes, pale, freckled skin. Slim, athletic build. Minor delusion: thinks she's unattractive. Tends to dress in jeans and men's flannel shirts. Security Op. Day job: FBI agent; works with the Zeno File department to make sure they come to the "right" conclusions. Favorite weapon: .44 Magnum. Quote: "You weren't using that head anyway."
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Author's note:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Magnum Wikipedia article on the .44 Magnum.
The Zeno File department before it was reorganized under the Department of Homeland Security.
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Drachir Chamkaur

Drachir Chamkaur. Short black hair, black eyes, brown skin, small, slight build. Apparently of Indian origin, though his inauthentic first name makes the other operatives curious, at least. Intel Op, the other operatives' nominal superior. Day job: mid-level manager at Engineering Technology Inc., one of the Company's main 'legitimate' cover organizations. The operatives work out of the ETI office in Bayerville, Virginia, near the campus of Bavarian State University. Drachir's favorite weapon: the garrote -- it’s quiet and a lot less messy than most other weapons. Quote: "I'm not responsible for Company policy. I just enforce it."
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Harmony Brown

Harmony Brown. Shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes in a round face, tan skin. Science Op, Xenolinguist. Day job: third-grade substitute teacher. Likes to wear frilly dresses with big bows on the back. Her favorite color is an earthy brown. The shortest operative among the main characters, but strong for her size. Currently rather sweet on Mal. Favorite weapon: judo. Her low center of gravity makes it easy to use other people's height and weight against them. Her cute, sweet appearance and demeanor help hide the fact that she could throw you through a wall if she thought it was really necessary. Quote: "Can't we all just get along? Because if we can't I'm going to have to hurt someone."
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Veronica Abbot

Veronica "Ronnie" Abbot. Shoulder-length black hair, blue eyes, pale complexion, tall and athletic. Beautiful appearance -- she knows she has it and she flaunts it. A bit of a flirt. Currently in a serious relationship with Rex, possibly just to torture him. Science Op, Xenologist. Day job: Hollywood consultant, gives advice on set design, costuming and props appropriate to various cultures and time periods. Favorite weapons: a pair of Derringers she keeps under her skirt. Quote: "It's all relative, except when it isn't. It's relatively relative."
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Author's note: Derringers
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First Contact

Related websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_contact_(science_fiction) Wikipedia, first contact, science fiction
http://www.scifan.com/themes/themes.asp?TH_themeid=5 SciFan.com, themes, first contact -- contact with aliens
http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/thisthat.html Try the useful and amusing "START HERE IF YOU ONLY REMEMBER WHAT THE BOOK COVER LOOKED LIKE" list.
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Themes

First Contact
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Characters

The Operatives
Veronica Abbot
Harmony Brown
Drachir Chamkaur
Ginger Delaney
Benny Honto
Malcolm Jimenez
Charles Cee MacClare
Justin Moore
Rex Strang

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Name resources:
http://www.indiaexpress.com/specials/babynames/ Indian baby names. Used to confirm that 'Drachir' is NOT a legitimate Indian first name.
http://www.sikhs.org/names.htm Sikh names and their meanings.
http://www.writing-world.com/links/names.shtml Writing World character name resources, where I found some of the other sites.
http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/bl_meaning.htm About.com Glossary of Last Name Meanings and Origins.
http://www.japanorama.com/namesinj.html Japanorama Japanese Names
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Role-Playing

This story is based on a role-playing game I ran using the GURPS system published by Steve Jackson Games. Some of the game logs have been uploaded to my web site, Richard's Index under the title Cool Regime Change. The rest will be uploaded as I get time.

The structure of the characters' Patron organization was taken from GURPS Black Ops, though the characters themselves were nowhere near as powerful as the Black Ops characters.

The aliens' technology mostly came from GURPS worldbooks Bio-Tech, Time Travel, Traveller, Ultra-Tech, and Ultra-Tech 2. Since I ran the game, Steve Jackson Games has expanded much of the Parallel World campaign info from Time Travel in GURPS Infinite Worlds.

Bavarian State University, where some of the characters worked at their "day jobs," was modeled after the Darkly Illuminated version of GURPS IOU.

Disclaimer
The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the GURPS system from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games.
Notice
GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy.
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Headlines

About ten years into the future...

Memory Hole News -- All the News That’s Fit to Forget -- June 14

  "Morning Mal. What’s up?"

NSA Officials Admit Manned Mars Mission Will Be Delayed Another Year

  "The usual crap."

2001 Anthrax Attacks Still a Mystery -- Nobody Gives a Damn

  "'Morning, Charles, glad to see you.'"

Fighting Intensifies In Middle East

  "Oh, sorry. Maybe I shouldn't read the news first thing in the morning."

Liechtenstein Refuses to Abandon Nuclear Program -- UN "Really Ticked Off"

  "I know it wakes me right up."

Administration Officials May Blame May Heat Wave on Sunspots

  "There is that."

UCLU Vows Fight For the Right to Bare Breasts

  "Anything they don't need to worry about?"

Anti-aging Treatment Recalled -- Blamed for "Shiny Happy" Syndrome

  "Not really. There's that space dust thing tonight that Rex isn't all worked up about, but he doesn't think it won't be anything."

Judge Refuses to Order Teaching of Hindu "Creation Science" in Kansas Schools

  "Jerry may not have anything interesting. There aren't any rumors of anything normal not being sighted in the Library of Congress, of all places."

Couple Claims Pet Dingo Kidnapped by Aliens -- PETCLAU Investigating

  "Really? He hasn't seen any hints of anything like that, but he didn't know nobody wouldn't be looking into it."

Civil Rights Group Fights Deportation of Illegal Aliens Caught Carrying Illegal Weapons -- "They Haven't Actually Committed Any Crimes"

  "They aren't having a meeting about it later this morning. Rex won't be there, and he probably won't want to bang some heads together on that space dust thing, either."

Increase in Autoimmune Diseases Over Last Century Blamed on Vacuum Cleaners

  "Okay. He won't try not to remember to avoid not being there.

Memory Hole News -- We Report, You Forget

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Author's note -- Links:
Memory Hole. I should point out The Memory Hole, which seeks to achieve the exact opposite of what MHN is doing.
June 14
NSA
Anthrax
Middle East fighting
Liechtenstein
Nuclear proliferation
UN
Sunspots and climate
Edit 8/23/06: I realized my comment on free speech needed some explanation. I'm working on it. Meanwhile, Here's a Wikipedia article about free speech in general.
Shiny happy syndrome
Space dust. I accidentally typed this search in as "space DUCT zodiacal light" and got over 61 thousand hits. Is the internet scary or what?
Hindu creation. Warning: obnoxious popups.
Kansas school science
Library of Congress
Dingoes
Aliens and pets
Illegal
Crime
Cleanliness and autoimmune disease
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Next: The Meeting: Culture Glob
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The Night the Earth Moved

Background music: Jebediah, "I Ran"

Navigation:
Headlines
The Meeting: Culture Glob
The Meeting: Mission Creep
The Meeting: Space Dustup
The Meeting: Never Too Late
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Title

The title takes after Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Some sites about Ray Bradbury:
http://www.raybradbury.com/ Official Harper-Collins site.
http://www.spaceagecity.com/bradbury/ Ray Bradbury Online. Information about the author and his works.

The book is available from Amazon at .
Here's also the Harper-Collins page about the book, and the
Ray Bradbury Online page.

The book was made into a movie in 1983. Here is the IMDB entry.

The story follows a classic theme. A circus arrives in a small town. The ringmaster has the power to make dreams come true, but only at a terrible price, which you don't find out until it's too late. It's a version of the Faust myth. I found a good discussion of the Faust myth on this page, and there is a good list of Faust links here. The "bargain with the devil" theme is a common one in literature in general and science fiction in particular.

Another source for the title is the tagline from the movie 2010: "What's going to happen?" "Something wonderful." Funny, because when a society encounters a bigger, more powerful, more economically-developed society, the results are usually less than wonderful.

And so I came to tell my story.
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Introduction

Navigation:
About the Title for this story.
Role-Playing
Characters
Themes
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Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1 The Night the Earth Moved
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Return to: SWTWC main page.