Hawaii:Sessions:19950506

Track 1 – Deadly Harvest (05/06/1995 – 05/20/1995)

GM: John G.

Write-up: MaryK

Deadly Harvest

A050 Track 1 Assignment

Friday, May 5th, 1995: Enigma gives Dr. Vincent Emery just 24 hours to recruit for a mission to investigate an outbreak of cannibalism.

Team Roster:

• Dr. Vincent Emery
• Sly
• Dr. John Dixon
• Harry "Strawberry" Gadowsky
• Samantha Dancer
• Jason Rathbone

Dr. Emery checks with Miracle Tech to see if they will supply him with a black hole set up as a forensics lab. They won't (of course), but they do have some mission-specific equipment for him. One box is about 6'x2'x2' and the other is somewhat smaller.

The team assembles in the hotel lobby on Saturday, May 6th. At noon Enigma shows up with a folder and hands out IDs to each person. Emery and Dixon are identified as investigators from the California Health Department; the others are with the California Highway Patrol. To Sly and Samantha he also gives rings, purpose unexplained. Giving Sly's blaster rifle a pointed glance, he reminds them that they are not to display any advanced technology to the locals.

The team appears at a small airstrip near the southern California town of Canyon Lake. The date is May 10, 1952, a Saturday. Two helicopters sit nearby, engines still warm. A nearby hangar houses another helo, this one equipped with spray tanks. Before long a patrol car drives up; Andy Romano, the county sheriff greets them and thanks them for their quick response. He describes the incident that led him to request assistance. Harry Duckold, a mentally retarded 18-year-old, had been living with the Vandenberg family for years and was good friends with their 8-year-old son. Harry, despite his size, was a gentle soul. About six hours earlier, however, Harry had suddenly and viciously attacked his younger friend, actually biting large chunks of flesh from the boy's body. The Vandenberg boy had died from blood loss. Two of the sheriff's deputies sent to arrest Harry had also been bitten. Harry was now locked in a jail cell at the sheriff's office.

(Out of curiosity, Sly stuck Enigma's ring on her forefinger. She didn't feel any effect, and nobody else made any comments. She slides up to Samantha and requests that Sam put her black hole up so Sly can stow her blaster rifle.)

The team rides down to the sheriff's office. Sly, Samantha, and Rathbone remain in the outer office while Emery, Dixon, and Strawberry go back to Harry's cell. Harry starts making choking sounds, then suddenly explodes, his torso bursting open and spraying gore and flesh -- interspersed with a strange green substance -- all over the place. Strawberry, splattered from head to foot, stumbles away, retching; Samantha, who had heard the explosion and the subsequent outcries and rushed back there, also starts throwing up. When he recovers from his nausea, Strawberry strips down to his BVDs, giving up his clothes and boots ("They were brand new!") as a total loss.

Emery and Dixon gather up the remains and go to the county hospital, where they are given a room to use as a laboratory. Samantha and Strawberry check into the Miramar Beach Motel (Room 12); she puts up her black hole, and he takes advantage of her shower and autotailor. Rathbone and Sly remain at the sheriff's office. One of the deputies who had been bitten by Harry earlier shows up with a prisoner who is splashed with blood and trying to bite; the deputy says this is a migrant worker from one of the local farms. Sly orders the deputy to take the worker to the hospital and check in with Dr. Emery. ...

[05/20/95]

Sly searches Ruger's house one last time for any clues to the origin of the mysterious spores. She finds a letter addressed to Ruger from one Richard Leomarti, who warns Ruger not to use the growth hormone as it has been found to cause mutations. Relayed a request from Emery and Dixon, Sly picks up a sample (five-gallon can) of the hormone spray. Rathbone lands the helo near the house and picks Sly up.

Samantha and Strawberry fill the sprayer tanks of Ruger's helicopter with gasoline and spray this liberally over Ruger's melon fields. Then from several hundred yards' distance Rathbone holds their helo steady while Sly takes aim with her Kronin blaster rifle and shoots. Great gouts of flame roar skyward.

Unfortunately, the diesel storage tank near the house also caught fire and exploded. S&S refill their tanks with water and douse the flames. Sly and Rathbone do a visual scan of the field and ascertain that every last melon is charred.

Given help from the authorities, the team finds out that there is a research chemist named Leomarti in San Ysidro, about 100 miles away by air. Emery and Dixon leave instructions with the Canyon Lake hospital as to the care and treatment of any remaining spore victims and the disposal of the spores. The two helos lift off, and as soon as they're out of sight of Canyon Lake, they pop into the airspace near the Moana Loa Hilton.

Sidebars:

Dixon, with advice and assistance from Emery, immediately goes to work on Samantha's radio implant.

Rathbone has received a small package addressed to him at the hotel. Inside is another of the fake amulets. Rathbone immediately concludes that someone is taunting him. He gets in touch with Doc Winters and they strike a mutual bargain: Nighthawk Investigations will analyze the fake amulet and try to develop leads on the person(s) behind it, while Rathbone will have his people keep surveillance on Solomon McCain and particularly his brother David, who recently joined IS.

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