|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OFFICE COMPLEX--CUP 1--"QUALITY SCOUT" --------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------> (Cup SRoc001, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = A magnificent feat of engineering that, pulling ocean liners up into the middle of Derolbam City. I wonder what sort of rogue inspiration hit its originator, and how he could justify the overwhelming cost of the project to the builders. But it was built, and it was a popular thing. "I'm going down to the boat later, if you wanna come." Yester said to me and Injure. "Um, that's not a bad idea, but I gotta set some stuff up, y'know." Injure said. "And I have a meeting." I said. "But if you wanna wait till it's over, I'd be glad to go with ya. I've been meaning to go." In this skyscraper we were doing our job. I'm Daptin Gone, a Quality Scout for OA, Overwhelm Associates. Based in this building is an outpost of ours. And what I do along with my navigator Injure Bodoni and secretary Yestersay Polay is go around to all these outposts and keeps tabs on what's happening, up close and personal. This involves personal interviews with all the major staffmembers, as well as accompanying teams on patrol. This was Timber Serious Earth, three Earths from the OA Greatwall Base on Cardinal Saturn Earth, and a bitch of a trip, since Bavler Bestroystraw's Aconck Group contains the first of the three Earths. So in any case, my official meeting and interview with Il Zillionthi, head of the Derolbam Team, was scheduled for half an hour from then. Zillionthi was formerly a professor at Shirt University, whom was a good friend of Bestroystraw at Thatterine College, and when Bestroystraw discovered Aconck, he offered Zillionthi the opportunity to join The Aconck Group, which he accepted. But when Letevs Fife split from TAG, and formed Overwhelm Associates, Zillionthi went with Fife. For a time, Zillionthi was involved in central administration, but he felt that he was tired of being around all the Red Alley Earth folks, and asked to move and head a new outpost. With several available, he chose Derolbam City for its metropolitan flair. Zillionthi rented a whole floor in a brand new office skyscraper, with a magnificent view of the in-city-dock. The outpost had been set up and in operation for eight months, and this was our first Quality Scout visit. From the looks of things, I would have nothing untoward to report to Fife--they had done the place up with real class, looking like the best of modern offices. They fronted themselves as computer consultants, to cover for all the esoteric equipment. The outposts have the main function of monitoring bridging into and out of their Earths, and investigate if someone doesn't leave soon after they enter. Basically, the way it works is that with the OA machinery, they can pinpoint locations of bridging, and interpolate the number of persons and nature of cargo at both beginbridge and endbridge, thus knowing which way the bridge took the crossers. Since it is possible to build a bridge just about anywhere, it is impossible to intercept all rival bridging activity. But if the crossers don't leave, it is possible to pinpoint their location and deal with them. This is something we had to deal with when crossing over the TAG Er (short for "Earth") on our way here--we knew they kept an outpost there, and that we had a limited time before we'd be intercepted. This is especially hazardous when one has to travel a long distance overland to get to the desired interface locale. So the usual strategy, as in our case, is to travel on the OA Earth to an equiv point as near the border between interface territories on the rival Earth. In this way, usually a mile or less is required to get to the opposite territory and bridge out. This does make it difficult to crossover two or more rival Earths, especially if the territories are illogistically arranged. And also, one has to vary the in-out points, because if the same location is used over and over again, a surveillance team will surely set up there. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----