From: JBrandt@aaa.uoregon.edu (Jay Brandt (Jason))
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Re: Is there a Doctor in the house?
Followup-To: alt.callahans
Date: 5 Nov 1992 06:31:32 GMT
Organization: the Polyhedron Group
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: fp1-dialin-1.uoregon.edu

Please pardon the mixed threads here. There's stuff in this from both
alt.callahans and alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo. It couldn't be helped.

In article <1992Nov5.014954.11756@u.washington.edu>,
dunk@carson.u.washington.edu (John Dunkelburg) wrote:
> 
> B'Naal continues,
>   Thank you, Friend Jason, for the background on cyberpunk.   I have a young 
> friend in another time and place who is curious about the state of bioware in   
>your sprawl.   That is, he would like to know if the use of modified biologic 
>augmentation has been introduced, or if it is even being worked on.   In his 
>sprawl, there is some research on it, and what he has sampled has led him to 
>think that it could be, as he says, "wiz" in defeating passive security 
>devices.   If you wish to contact him, look up Falcon.   He can let you know 
>where to find my friend.

Jason continues to chat amicably with B'Naal. "Yes, Maas Biolabs, VT
Research (A division of the same corp that owns 'Virtually There') and two
other zaibatsus in my sector of the Sprawl are doing hot work in Biosoft.
Some of the augmentation that Argus has is Biosoft wetware. Your friend
should seek Argus or Shadowcat at the Chatsubo for discussions of this
nature, however. It's really more appropriate and more polite to the
patrons here to take this to the Chatsubo rather than discussing it here,
as many of the patrons here are not into that genre. The Matrix address for
the Chatsubo is one you know, as I have received a posting from you there
in relation to 'Silk and Steel'."

He looks down and opens his cyberdeck. "Let me check my deck a moment." A
few taps on the keyboard, and a sheet of paper exits smoothly from a slot
on one edge of the deck. "Here, this is from Shadowcat. She says her e-mail
to you bounced, both by the newsreader and by our e-mail program, with a
message that 'dunk' was an unknown user. I suspect that there is an error
in your return e-mail address, which we have as
dunk@carson.u.washington.edu."

He hands the paper to B'Naal. It reads:
----------------------------------------------------------------
In article <1992Nov3.022056.13477@u.washington.edu>, you wrote:
> 
> Yo, Jay (or should I say Shadowcat) your 'Silk and Steel' story is great so
far.Your description of the world and the technology is wonderterrific.  
Your
treatment of the background of Shadowcat is very good, considering that the
basic idea has been kicked around so much (family member of young person
mysteriously dies, so trains self to be the best at whatever to find out
truth
and kick snot out of whoever did their older sibling and/or parent.), and
you've given it what seems to be a whole new fee
> 
> 
> it (I say seems because I can't really find the right words).
> 
>    I really enjoyed your other short describing the technology behind that
staff.   Very interesting, and it would be interesting to see something
like
that.   Personally, I'm more into the Shadowrun style of Cyberpunk, rather
than
the Gibsonian (is that correct?) style, mainly because I haven't read
_Neuromancer_ yet.In a way, I prefer Shadowrun, even though it does have
the
additional aspect of magic in the mayhem.   It's the tech I'm interested
in,
specifically the weapons.   The idea of a streetp
> 
> 
> th a 7.62mm rotary minigun is rather interesting, though kind of hard to
imagine where someone like that could get enough ammo tokeep the thing fed.
> 
> Anyhow, it shoud be interesting to see how your storyline develops in the
future.   Will Aki-san blackmail Argus and Shadowcat?   Will the
Traditionalist
Yakusa buy Aki's staff design?   Will Shadowcat ever find out who did her
older
sister?   And will I ever stop asking these inane questions?   Find out
next
time on this station!
> 

Hi John!

Glad you liked my Silk and Steel adventures so far. 

But before replying on anything else, I need to point out that your
newsreader program is garbling your posts here by not inserting returns at
the word-wraps. I think as StM pointed out at Callahans, that you need to
activate a word-wrap at 80 characters or less. As you can see above, long
paragraphs are getting chopped up. It makes it kinda hard to listen to you.
Check with your sysop for assistance on that. Also, if you have occesion to
be using a Macintosh word processor, like I do, watch out for typographer's
single and double quotes (Smart Quotes). They look really wierd on some
systems.

I am actually leaning more to the Shadowrun side of the tracks myself. That
was my first intentional set of purchases in the genre. (The paperbacks,
not the RPG). The Silk and Steel series hasn't touched on street shamans
and other magical aspects yet, but may in the future.

You raise many questions, all of which were the ones I wanted a reader to
wonder about. Thanks for letting me know I succeeded in that aspect.
There-s plenty more to come before this thread runs its course.

Were you able to read Silk and Steel part one? Not the detailed tech sheet
on the staff, but the initial story. It -should- be in the new archives
files already (I haven't looked yet), but if you haven't read it and would
like a copy I would be glad to e-mail it to you.

See ya in the Sprawl,
Shadowcat
----------------------------------------------------------------

>   I'm sorry for mistaking you for an associate of the Puma sistems, friend >Thyra.   It was an honest mistake, since you all have some similarities in >shape.   Maybe it's the feline ears that misled me.   I am also glad to find >another animefan here at Callahans.   I picked up on this art form when I was >down in Olympia, and have tried to keep up with it.   Mostly, I am successful, >but sometimes even I tend to miss an issue or two (very embarassing when it >happens.).

Thyra giggles and says "No problem, friend B'Naal. We do look somewhat
alike. I'll have to pick up some of their anime. There is at least one
store in our town that carried tapes of their adventures. I've seen the
tapes, but haven't watched them. Guess it's about time I did. Two others
here who like anime and magna are Liralen Li and Yukipuma."

>    You mentioned several people who could help me with my hyperdrive motivator  
>problem, and you mentioned a Doctor.   May I assume that this is, then, the 
>storied and infamous Doctor Who, the rouge Gallifreyan Time Lord?   If it is 
>indeed he, then he can probably find something in a good used hyperdrive 
>motivator for me.

"Yes, there is an incarnation of Doctor Who here. Ask, and he will probably
be glad to with you. As with anyone else here just direct a question their
way, and they will probably pick up the thread and chat. Some, such as
Yukipuma, have killer schedules, and can't spend much time here, but in
general we're a pretty talkative bunch."