Palladium: A Precursor to The Last One-Horn

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<img src="Pictures/600px-Palladium_(46_Pd).jpg" /> a short story game by John Vanderhoef [[Elom's Living Room<-Start]] <<audio "mainsong" loop play>> <<set $start to false>> <<set $password to false>> <<set $madam to false>> <<set $tracker to false>> <<set $terminal to false>> <<set $tattoo to false>> <<set $autopsy to false>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <<if $start is false>>A man, [[Elom<-Elom]], is dead on the floor of his MicroCrom loft apartment, two large, seared [[blaster holes<-blaster holes]] in his chest cavity. He had sent an emergency ping via his [[PsychNet module<-PsychNet module]] straight to your own: Anamesa! Poachers. Need help. Save Mazi. [[Portraits<-Portraits]] of extinct and endangered animals line the walls of the place, organics that you both committed to preserving as part of [[SOL<-SOL]]. Hell, you would have even called him your friend. He's dead, and his daughter, [[Mazi<-Mazi]], is missing. She's the only priority now. Have to find out who exactly took her. And where. [[Elom's Bathroom<-Enter Bathroom]] [[Elom's Kitchen<-Enter Kitchenette]] <<else>>[[Elom<-Elom]] is dead on the floor, two large, seared [[blaster holes<-blaster holes]] in his chest cavity. [[Portraits<-Portraits]] of extinct and endangered animals line the walls, organics that [[SOL<-SOL]] tries to protect. Have to find Mazi. [[Elom's Bathroom<-Enter Bathroom]] [[Elom's Kitchen<-Enter Kitchenette]] <</if>>

<<cacheaudio "mainsong" "Music/425942__hakren__dark-ambient-synth (1).flac">> <<cacheaudio "song2" "Music/339046__cabled-mess__filtered-note-08-01.flac">> <<cacheaudio "gunshot" "Music/344524__sharesynth__gunshot02.wav">> <<cacheaudio "song3" "Music/393330__cabled-mess__cyberpunk-24042017-snippet-75-bpm-loop.wav">> <<cacheaudio "mazi" "Music/39100__metamorphmuses__shimmerpool.wav">> <<cacheaudio "car" "Music/404949__fstagi__hovering-ufo.wav">> <<cacheaudio "drama" "Music/437220__esistnichtsoernst__eflat-minor-synth-pad.wav">> <<cacheaudio "shock" "Music/160421__bigkahuna360__electrical-shock-zap.wav">>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <<if $password is false>>Elom is just circuits and decaying proteins now. He's nothing of the friend you had. His dark skin has already begun to pale. Or maybe grow darker, as if the forlorn horizen after a setting sun abandons it. The large scorched wounds on his chest suggest basic sidearms. He mentioned poachers. They must have known we were trying to protect the remaining [[long-trunks<-long-trunks]] in the region. Elom's grey eyes remain forever open, the circuits of his implants shimmering through his lifeless corneas. He has a head port, but it's password protected, probably encrypted by SOL's best hackers. It would take too long to break. Maybe there's a clue somewhere in the [[Elom's Living Room<-apartment]]? <<else>>Elom is just circuits and decaying proteins now. His dark skin has already begun to pale. Or maybe grow darker, as if the forlorn horizen after a setting sun abandons it. The large scorched wounds on his chest suggest basic sidearms. He mentioned poachers. They must have known we were trying to protect the remaining [[long-trunks<-long-trunks]] in the region. His grey eyes remain forever open, the circuits of his implants shimmering through his lifeless corneas. Use Elom's [[Elom's HeadPort<-password]] to jack into his headport. <</if>> <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa At least it was a quick death. The large scorched wounds on Elom's chest suggest basic RefleX Corp sidearms. Thirty years ago they started buying up all the major weapons manufacuturers and defense contractors around the globe. As nation states faltered, companies like RefleX Corp stepped in to pick up the pieces of the dying world. Elom mentioned poachers. They must have known we were trying to protect the remaining [[long-trunks<-long-trunks]] in the region. [[Elom's Living Room<-Back]] <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa The iconography of the wire symbolized a connected world since the first [[Telegraph<-telegraph networks]] emerged over 200 years ago. Yet the wire gave way to the wireless both in practice and in metaphor, the tangible fading into the ethereal. Humans used the cloud as an icon for decades before the decentralized PsychNet emerged. Now PsychNet implants connect the whole world. Corps control the major hubs, but there are billions of rogue servers jammed into brain matter roaming the rain-drenched gutters of new mega cities like Cape Town. You can watch kitten videos from the toilet or hack a crypto bank from the otherside of the world. Or you can send a dying message to a friend, asking her to save your daughter. [[Elom's Living Room<-Back]] <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa Save Organic Life (SOL) WorldNet group designation: an eco-terrorist organization dedicated to preserving organic life on Earth. Eco-terrorist group? You knew that was bullshit. But what were you going to do? The Corps shape the digital discourse and the digitl discourse shapes reality. You joined up years ago now while working as a Cypto Hacker, skimming coins off of unsavory Bitlords. That's when you met [[Sym<-Sym]], a woman who taught you that hacking could either be used to make the world better or worse. So why were you making it worse? [[Elom's Living Room<-Back]] <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Anamesa.png" /> When you take away the parts of yourself that you start with, what's left in the remaining void? Silicon. Plastic. Other difficult to pronounce metals. Mazi's little electric toothbrush, sitting on the sink, feels like a shadow painted on a sidewalk after an unspeakable blast. There's nothing important in the bathroom. And you hate mirrors. [[Elom's Living Room<-Go Back to the Living Room]] <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa The kitchen is sterile. A [[Service Bot<-service bot]] must come to clean the place twice a week. Just looking at the kitchette area, you wouldn't think there was a dead body three meters away. Except for the smell, which is already permeating the apartment. The hard copy [[Photograph<-photograph]] of Elom and Mazi on the regrigerator catches your eye. Who has hard copies of photos anymore? [[Elom's Bathroom<-Enter Bathroom]] [[Elom's Living Room<-Go Back to the Living Room]] <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa Name: Mazi Naidoo DOB: 15/5/2063 Age: 9-years-old. Weight: 28.1 kg Eye Color: Brown. Hair Color: Black. Father: Elom Naidoo (brain wave inactive, perhaps recently deceased, known dissident) Mother: Annika Naidoo (deceased) Medical History: Born with Osteogenesis imperfecta. Required radical Palladium grafting surgery. [[Elom's Living Room<-Back]] <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Endangered_Animals.jpg" /> [[Elom's Living Room<-Back]] <<set $start to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Elephant.jpg" /> African elephant, Loxodonta africana, found in Africa South of the Sahara [[Elom<-Back]]

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/CyberPunkEye.jpg" /> Most of Elom's firmware has been fried. Maybe if I run a [[Search<-search for Mazi]]...

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Tracker.png" /> Mazi's tracker pinpoints her at a pleasure den on Long Street. Why the hell would they take her there? The clock is ticking. [[Transition to Chapter 2<-Head there now.]]

Location: Enroute to Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/SydMeadSpinner.jpg" /> [[Pleasure Den<-Proceed to the Pleasure Den]] <<audio "car" play volume 0.50>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa Mass emigration in the early 21st century resulted in an underclass of housekeepers in the world's leading economies from developing countries. The Corps, as they grew, developed service bots to replace human labor. This happened across basic service industries. The resulting unemployment was devastating and increased poverty across the globe, even as sea level rises decimated coastal areas and led to another wave of mass relocations. In existential panic, the governments of the world turned to the same technology companies the media had been praising for decades as saviors. But that's the thing with saviors: it's a brand, like anything else. With a high enough marketing budget, anybody can be a savior. [[Elom's Kitchen<-Back]]

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa You pluck the magnetic photo from the fridge and look at it. <img src="Pictures/Photograph.png" /> Elom and Mazi stare at you with warm smiles. Even with the implants visible on both their faces -- a shimmer in the eyes -- they are still more human than you'll ever be again. You clench your fists. [[Back of Photo<-Flip the photo over]]. [[Elom's Kitchen<-Put the photo back]].

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa A date: 13/2/2070. You know without thinking that this is important. Probably a password. Elom was always a sentimentalist. [[Elom's Kitchen<-Put the photo back.]] <<set $password to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa Bingo. Elom had a program installed in his PsychNet that tracks Mazi's location at all times. The poachers must not know or they'd have ripped it out of her by now. Come to think of it, how do poachers benefit from kidnapping a child? They already eliminated Elom. He was the immediate threat. Do they want leverage over SOL? Install [[Mazi's Tracker<-Mazi's tracker]] in your PsychNet system.

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa <<if $madam is false>>The lights of the pleasure den flicker as smoke rises from a few fresh blaster holes in the walls. Silky, flex-screen curtains line the walls and display glitchy advertisements for the sex bots. The floor is a mess of blood and shredded tech. Three sex bots lay dead on the ground, their chest cavities exploded by the same blasters that killed Elom. A computer terminal sits at an empty reception desk. Is Mazi still here? Her tracker position hasn't moved. You look down a long [[Hallway<-hallway]]. You need to investigate, but you're afraid of what you might find. <<else>>Silky, flex-screen curtains line the walls and display glitchy advertisements for the sex bots, the smoke from recent blaster holes still wafting between the digital fabric. Three sex bots lay dead on the ground, but there is no way you can interface with their memory chips now. A [[Computer<-computer terminal]] sits at an empty reception desk. [[Hallway<-Enter hallway]]. <</if>> <<audio "car" stop>> <<audio "mainsong" stop>> <<audio "song2" loop play>>

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa The hallway lights flicker. Nano-bugs skitter across the dirty ceilings and floors. To your [[Pleasure Room 1<-left]] is a half-open door to a pleasure room. The ordinary din of metallic moans and frustrated grunts has been replaced by a steady hum of distant processors churning. It's the equivalent of silence now. An [[Madam's Office<-office door]] is ajar at the far end of the hallway. If there was a madam here, that's where she'd be. [[Pleasure Den<-Go back to the reception area.]]

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa Pleasure Den Computer Terminal A MicroCrom Technology . . . . . . . . . . . <<if $tattoo is false>>[[Security Footage<-Access Security Recordings.]] <<else>>[[CityNet<-Hack into CityNet Security Systems.]] <</if>>

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa Another dead sex bot is splayed over an unkempt bed, surrounded by digital walls advertising the latest cure for male pattern baldness. Its finger twitches like the leg of a dying insect. On the floor, you see a child's shoe. It's Mazi's. She was here. The poachers probably shoved her in here while they had their way with the staff. What did she hear as she cowered in this room? And did the sex bot, once human itself, comfort the child? Where is Mazi now? [[Hallway<-Head back to the hallway.]]

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa <<if $madam is false>>You hear a woman's digitally-filtered groan as you enter the back office. It's the den's [[Madam Bovery<-madam]], sprawled out on her corner bed, her left robotic arm missing, its stump sparking angrily. Looking closer, you can see the left side of her face has been bashed in as well, but she seems to cling to life. Across the room, a [[Bird Cage<-bird cage]] hangs above her desk. <<else>> The madam is dead on her bed in the corner. She told you the poachers killed everybody, trashed the place, and left with Mazi. Across the room, a [[Bird Cage<-bird cage]] hangs above her desk. <</if>> <<if $tracker is false>>Mazi's tracker says she should be in the room somewhere. <<else>> <</if>> [[Hallway<-Go back to the hallway.]]

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa The madam is still breathing as you bend over her. Her left arm has been severed and the left side of her face caved in. Bits of skull, tissue, and cybernetics twist together out of her head. If she were more human, she'd be dead already. "Help me..." she whispers. "[[Madam Dialogue 1<-Where is the girl? Did you see the girl?!]]"

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Bird_Cage.jpg" /> The bird cage hangs from the ceiling, its door open, no bird in sight. Instead, you see a small microchip sitting in a splatter of blood in the middle of the cage -- Mazi's tracker. The poachers must have scanned her and found it. Those bastards cut it from her head. You clench your cybernetic fists. You've seen [[Madam's Office<-enough]]. <<set $tracker to true>>

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa The madam's right eyelid rapidly blinks, a sign her servos are shutting down. "My face," she says. "What did they do to my beautiful face?" "The child," you repeat. "Where is the child?" "They took her," she sighs. "Just like they took my poor little Rati!" "[[Madam Dialogue 2<-Wait, who is Rati?]]" "[[Madam Dialogue 3<-I don't care about Rati. Where did they take the girl?]]"

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa The madam coughs and spits up blood and synthetic lubricant. Her systems are on the brink of collapse. "Rati is my parakeet," the madam says, managing a proud, though broken, smile. "Very rare these days, you see. My prized possession..." "[[Madam Dialogue 3<-I don't care about your bird. Where did they take the girl?]]"

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa The madam's jaw comes unhinged, but it does not distort her voice, which comes from the amplifier implanted in her throat. Still, the mouthless voice reminds you too much of your own artifical form. "Who can say where they took her?" the madam says. "And who cares? They took everything from me. I am ruined!" "I can ruin you much faster," you warn. "Check the security footage," the madam sputters. "We record everything. Insurance purposes. The computer in reception should..." Her systems shut down in front of you. Her glowing right eye goes dark as her rapidly blinking eyelid comes to a halt, half-closed. She was human once, too. [[Madam's Office<-Step away from her body.]] <<set $madam to true>>

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Sym.png" /> [[SOL<-Back]]

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa You quickly scan through the footage from the last several hours. You see the three men enter. One of them holds Mazi by the collar, pushing her forward aggressively. They fire into the air as the madam tries to calm them down. Unfortunately, most of the footage is distorted from the damage they did to the place. But you do manage to make out a neck [[Tattoo<-tattoo]] on one of the poachers. <<set $tattoo to true>>

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa CityNet CCTV Monitoring System A MicroCrom Technology . . . . . . . . . . . [[Scan<-Scan for CCTV sightings of the neck tattoo.]]

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa The scan returns an immediate hit. <img src="Pictures/28030566632_055df7c7be_o.png" /> You see the location and frown. The only place worse than a pleasure den: a known aug chop shop. There's no telling what they'll do to Mazi. You better [[Transition to Chapter 3<-head there]] right away.

Location: Enroute to Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/SydMeadSpinner.jpg" /> [[Chop Shop Garage<-Proceed to the Aug Chop Shop]] <<audio "car" play volume 0.50>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa You snap the lock off the chop shop's garage door with the ease of cracking open an alco-brew. Augment chop shops are basically nightmare factories for anybody with an implant. Which means just about everybody now. The people who work in these places kill you, string you up and eviscerate you, keeping only those parts which can be reused. Something like a loving smile or a soft touch gets flushed down the drain like so much offal. These have no resale value. The main garage is dark and empty except for a few half-salvaged, self-driving taxis. It's not what you see, though. It's what you smell: Blood, oil, and cybernetic lubricant. [[Meat Locker<-Investigate the meat locker in back.]] <<audio "car" stop>> <<audio "song2" stop>> <<audio "song3" loop play volume 0.40>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa <<if $terminal is false>>Dismembered bodies hang from the ceiling on hooks, with fluids, both organic and synthetic, frozen like icicles from every sprayed wire and loose tendril. Frost clings to their faces. A cold fog lingers near the floor. But otherwise, there's no signs of activity. [[Spark Scan<-Use a spark scan to sweep the area.]] <<else>>A panel in the floor is now open, revealing a staircase to a basement. Dismembered bodies hang from the ceiling on hooks, with fluids, both organic and synthetic, frozen like icicles from every sprayed wire and loose tendril. Frost clings to their faces. [[Cellar<-Descend to the basement.]] <</if>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa Spark scans can pick up any trace of an electrical pulse. A lot of these shops like to hide their operations behind secret doors, even though they usually pay off the police anyway. The scan identifies a hidden terminal in the wall. There's no physical access, so you'll have to log-in through your PsychNet. [[Terminal<-Interface with terminal.]]

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa Invisibeam Computer Terminal An Invisibeam Technology . . . . . . . . . . . [[Meat Locker<-Open cellar door.]] <<set $terminal to true>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Autopsy.jpg" /> The walls are lined with bio-readers and X-ray displays. Surgical instruments are scattered around. A body of an unidentified male sits covered on an operating table. He's somebody's missing person but not yours. The smell of rot fills the room, and you can hear distant voices coming from deeper in the basement. [[Poached Elephant<-Continue cautiously toward the sound of voices.]]

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Poached_Elephant.jpg" /> You gag as you enter the room. A rotting [[Long-Trunks 2<-long-trunk]] corpse sits enormous in front of you, half frozen but warming and moistening every second. Its face has been removed to extract its ivory. Even in an age of digital fantasy, the rich still have a taste for rare commodities. This decaying behemoth is why Elom is dead, why Mazi was kidnapped, and why you've been running all over town chasing poachers. [[SOL 2<-SOL]] wanted you and Elom to protect these beautiful creatures. Only a few remain in the world. One less after this grisly discovery. [[Mazi Autopsy<-Continue cautiously toward the sound of voices.]]

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa <<if $autopsy is false>>The next room is dark, but an overhead light illuminates an operating table in the middle of the room. On top of the table: [[Body<-a small body]]. You see an adjacent office and hear the sound of men laughing within. <<else>>Mazi's ruined corpse sits on the operating table in front of you. You see an adjacent office and hear the sound of men laughing within. You grip your pistol. [[Corner Office<-Pull your weapon and enter the office.]] <</if>> <<audio "mazi" play>> <<audio "song3" stop>> <<audio "drama" loop play>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa You slowly open the office door. Inside three poachers sit at a holo-games table. They don't hear you enter. The parakeet from the pleasure den is tethered to the same holo-games table by a titanium thread. It turns its head toward you but does not squawk. The image of Mazi's mutilated corpse haunts you. You [[Corner Office 2<-open fire]] without remorse.

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa You open fire without remorse, killing two of the men instantly. The third man drops to his knees. On his neck you see the now-familiar tattoo. "Please..." the tattooed man whimpers. [[End Dialogue 1<-"Why? Why did you kill the girl?"]] <<audio "gunshot" play>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa “[[Palladium<-Palladium]],” he says. “What?” you ask, confused. “Palladium," he repeats. "Didn’t you know? The runt was born with a bone disease. It’s in her files. Her old man paid top crypto to get her bones lined with Palladium. It strengthened them, made it so she wasn’t made of glass.” “How could you do that?” you find yourself saying. “We were just trying to earn a dollar,” he says. “You’re inhuman.” “Look around, lady," he says, gesturing. "Ain’t none of us human anymore.” Your finger weighs heavy on the trigger of your gun. [[Kill Him<-Kill him.]] [[Fry Memory Banks<-Spare him, but fry his memory banks.]]

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa His face caves in from the blast and the back of his head explodes outward, splattering the walls with his brains. His body crumples to the floor, joining his two partners. It brings you no joy, but his death feels right. Is there such a thing anymore? Right and wrong? You have to believe that there is. The bird cowers on the halo-games table, shaking. [[Bird Choice<-Holster your gun.]] <<audio "gunshot" play>> <<audio "drama" stop>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa "You don't deserve this," you say as you grab his head and fry his memory boards with a localized EMP pulse. Sometimes it helps having swiss army knives for arms. His eyes roll up to the back of his head, his mouth hangs open, and he starts to drool uncontrollably. You let him drop to the floor. He'll live. He didn't deserve that mercy. He deserved to die, like his friends. It didn't feel right to kill him, though, not when there was another option. But is there such a thing as right and wrong anymore? You have to believe that there is. The bird cowers on the halo-games table, shaking. [[Bird Choice<-Holster your gun.]] <<audio "shock" play>> <<audio "drama" stop>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Parakeet.jpg" /> [[Free Bird<-Free the bird.]] [[Leave Bird<-Leave the bird.]]

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa Using a laser cutter, you burn through the thin titanium thread teathering the parakeet to the table. It does not resist as you nudge it to perch on your forearm. “There’s not much left like you,” you say, stroking the parakeet's head, before turning to leave with the small bird -- not stopping, not even for a micro-second, to see Mazi or the long-trunk or any of it. The poacher was right about one thing: ain’t none of us human anymore. [[Credits<-The End]]

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa You consider taking the bird with you. There are so few left in the world. And it's what you signed up for -- isn't it? Behind the synthetic mask that is now your face, you feel the familiar heat of tears. Only nothing comes out of your artificial ducts. “You don’t want to come with me,” you say to the bird. “I’m not much good at saving things.” Before second-guessing yourself, you turn to leave -- not stopping, not even for a micro-second, to see Mazi or the long-trunk or any of it. The poacher was right about one thing: ain’t none of us human anymore. [[Credits<-The End]]

Palladium: A Precursor to The Last One-Horn a short story game by John Vanderhoef This is a non-commercial art project. ''Pictures and Art'' "African elephant" by Chadica is licensed under CC BY 2.0 "World of cyberpunk" by Nana Dhebuadze is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 "Kaspersky Cyberpunk" by Victor Vasiljev is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 "Deus ex 3 - human revolution" by Studio Steambot is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 "The Vortex - Cyberpunk Street" by Avariel Falcon is licensed under CC BY 2.0. "Conuropsis carolinensis (Carolina parakeet) 4" by James St. John is licensed under CC BY 2.0 "Palladium" is licensed by CC BY 3.0 and is sourced from http://images-of-elements.com/palladium.php ''Music and Sound FX'' All music and sounds effects have been designated as CC0 and have generously been given to the public domain by their creators. [[Start<-Restart]]

Location: MicroCrom Loft Apartments, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Telegraph.png" /> [[PsychNet module<-Back]]

Location: Pleasure Den, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Tattoo.png" /> Some kind of barcode. It's recognizable enough, though. You can use the city's [[Computer<-CCTV system]] to run a scan for possible sightings.

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa The body's skin is flayed and peeled back along the skeleton. As you approach, you know it's Mazi. Or used to be. You're too late, you think to yourself. Always too late. Her small face is gone, her shining eyes removed. She's just a pile of damaged bones now. The poachers carefully removed the flesh around Mazi's skeleton and scraped the bones for some reason. Many of her bones have shattered as a result, like fragile glass. You know what you're seeing, but you don't understand. What was so special about her bones? You grit your artificial teeth. Why? [[Mazi Autopsy<-Why?!]] <<set $autopsy to true>>

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa Palladium is found in Row 5, Group 10 (VIIIB) of the periodic table. The periodic table is a chart that shows how chemical elements are related to each other. Palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, indium, and platinum make up the platinum group of metals. These metals are also sometimes called the noble metals. That term reflects the fact that the six elements are not very reactive. Palladium was discovered along with rhodium in 1803 by English chemist William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828). Wollaston had been studying platinum ores, probably taken from South America. Like the other platinum metals, palladium is quite rare. It also has a beautiful shiny finish that does not tarnish easily. These properties make it desirable in making jewelry and art objects. These uses are its most important applications, but it has also been used recently in [[End Dialogue 1<-experimental surgeries]].

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa <img src="Pictures/Elephant.jpg" /> African elephant, Loxodonta africana, found in Africa South of the Sahara [[Poached Elephant<-Back]]

Location: Illicit Augment Chop Shop, Cape Town, South Africa Save Organic Life (SOL) WorldNet group designation: an eco-terrorist organization dedicated to preserving organic life on Earth. Eco-terrorist group? You knew that was bullshit. But what were you going to do? The Corps shape the digital discourse and the digitl discourse shapes reality. You joined up years ago now while working as a Cypto Hacker, skimming coins off of unsavory Bitlords. That's when you met Sym, a woman who taught you that hacking could either be used to make the world better or worse. So why were you making it worse? [[Poached Elephant<-Back]]