011: Starman

*"There's a starman waiting in the sky.
He'd like to come and meet us.
But he thinks he'd blow our minds."*

*- Starman* by **David Bowie**

## Session Summary

Our adventure opens with the hours before dawn, and the Runaways (Bit Chaos, K2, Nova, and Smoke) making their way through the desert with Pusik to catch a ride on Luna's rocket. One member of the Runaways, Fridge, had been asked to stay back. Smoke was concerned that, with rumors of Adam Smasher being back in town, friends of the edgerunners might be in danger. He obliged, setting up at the home of Kerry Eurodyne to not only protect the rockerboy, but to extend that protection to his two thirteen-year-old children.

Much of the night before was spent with the Runaways getting their affairs together, but they were excited and rested as they took the several hour journey out into the Badlands to meet Luna at her homemade launch pad. The tech/netrunner had been at the rocket for hours already preparing for the launch, and set the Runaways plus Pusik up with all the supplies they were going to need for the launch and the trip to the O'Neill Satellite Colony.

The countdown.

The liftoff.

And then, they were no longer of this Earth.

Luna's rocket was a success, and everyone onboard watched in awe as they left the atmosphere. The world was a blue and green glowing gem beneath them as the rules of gravity released them from the terrestrial laws of physics. Luna left them all to their own musings while she course corrected and focused on their flight path. Soon, they were readjusting and boosting their way up to the O'Neill Satellite Stations.

Asked by the station for identification, there was momentary hesitation as Luna had forgotten to name her ship. After hasty whisperings she settled on Luna Two, and - after they all consented to DSI scanning - were welcomed aboard the O’Neill Space Colony.

They entered an the airlock, where a red light flashed and an alarm buzzed as artificial gravity was introduced to the room, after which the colony-side door opened into a utilitarian-grey room with two figures standing inside: a tall man in his 50s with salt-and-pepper dark hair and searching eyes and a Japanese woman.

The man seemed to be looking for Pusic, who was not all business and reported for “extraction and debriefing”. The two spoke briefly in Russian before the man introduced himself in English as General Alev Kondrasha

The woman bowed to Smoke, saying  “Arasaka-san, I didn’t expect you to return so soon. Will you want tea, or perhaps you are here for a treatment?”

Smoke replied shakily that treatment wouldn’t be necessary, but tea would be perfect.

Kondrasha said he would need to to meet with Pusic for about an hour, after which he would make himself available to meet with the rest of them.

Uneasily, the Runaways agreed to this, and they were led through the colony and into a corporate meeting room, where the faint sounds of a kabuki opera and the low sound of running water filled the air. Low chairs sat at a short table; Smoke sat down, pulled a blanket over their legs, and made small talk with the woman, who raised the shade on the window to show a view of Earth before leaving to get the requested tea.

After she left, Smoke and Luna developed a plan to get information from the computer system. Still rattled by the woman’s welcome, Smoke helped Luna into a net chair and then made her look like she was sleeping as Luna attempted to access the colony’s on-board records.

Tea arrived and was welcomed gratefully, and no sooner has Ms Sato left than Luna bolted from the chair and rushed to the bathroom in a fit of sickness. After Nova offered and administered medication, Luna revealed she’d been attacked by a contagion virus and then shared an image she’d found relating to “Project Kamishibai” - an image that indicated several people were being cloned in some kind of experiment. They were all disturbed to see Pusic’s name on the list, but Smoke almost had a breakdown at subject 003: “Linder, Robert John” - AKA Johnny Silverhand.

“We need answers. Now.”

The hour was up, so they made their way to the conference room by following the signs.

Kondrasha and Pusic were there, and Punic acted very, very different towards them. She was present physically but her humor and personality had been turned off.

Smoke tenaciously demanded answers from Kondrasha and made allusions to what they’d found in the hopes that Pusic would pick up on them, but Kondrasha wasn’t having it and sent Pusic out of the room before revealing what he knew about what “the emperors’ pet project” - of which Pusic was an unwitting participant/victim. Kondrasha made it clear his own participation was to protect those he loved, and while he could not let Pusic leave with The Runaways, he did secure their promise to help Pusic when (not if) they saw her again. In exchange, he told them that Johnny Silverhand was indeed being held in cryostasis on the colony, and that while moving him was possible, it would be dangerous.

With one last glance of understanding between Smoke and Kondrahsa, The Runaways ran toward the cryostasis room.

A single med tech was on duty; Smoke took him down as he rose to his feet. Nova was able to start the three-minute countdown to release Johnny and gave the rest of them instructions about what to grab in terms of medical supplies.

Smoke disguised Johnny in medical blankets and the like, and when the timer reached zero Bit was able to guide him into a wheelchair as Smoke dehydrated her own eyes with alcohol wipes to simulate a medical emergency.

As they were about to leave, a shard popped up and out of a storage unit. Smoke grabbed it and plugged it into her deck, but the shard had too much ram for them to open it. Smoke slammed it angrily into the port on the back of Johnny’s neck and they all high-tailed it out the door and to the spacecraft, sending Luna a message to start the engines. the gravity was turned off as they entered the airlock, and rocks they’d used for ballast now floated out into the bay as Johnny floated up into the air, guided by Smoke and Bit.

Inside, they buckled Johnny into the seat and Luna and Smoke requested emergency departure due to medical emergency, which was denied due to an oncoming solar flare. Given permission in three hours when the flare passed, and warned that leaving without clearance would result in a revoking of their ability to return, Luna said “Screw it” and blew the connection, while Smoke sent a message to Kerry regarding their projected landing.

As they entered earth’s atmosphere, Johnny woke up, ripped off his seatbelt, and shouted  “you son of a bitch” as he attempted to strangle Smoke. Nova and Bit tried unsuccessfully to calm him down, but Smoke managed to say “Fuck you too, baby” just as they hit water. Johnny was pushed back into his chair and then forward into the side of the ship, causing him to lose consciousness again.

The capsule floated to the surface, and opening the hatch they found Kerry and his yacht, the Sea-murai, waiting for them.

Back on dry land, they headed first to the safe house and from there . . .